Opinion | Go Slow on Psychedelics

About the editor:

On “Psychedelics Are Ready to Reshape Psychiatry” (front page, May 10):

We support the removal of criminal penalties for the use and increased medical research of psychedelics, but we call for a slower approach.

First, the people who advocate access to and promote the study of psychedelics – patients, therapists, companies, and investors – are usually enthusiasts motivated by positive personal experiences with these substances. Understandable, this tendency replaces the dispassionate, objective mindset that requires serious scientific research.

Clinical trials for approval by the Food and Drug Administration do not take into account unrestricted post-market use when the volume and variety of patients receiving the drugs and the length of their follow-up care are significantly greater than those in the controlled trials performed.

In addition, the level of training of the therapists and the methods with which these substances are optimally administered are anything but standardized.

Another problem is America’s tendency to commercialize these substances for all consumers. If the medical marijuana story is a lesson, it won’t be long before better access to psychedelics falls victim to serial entrepreneurs and profit seekers, not well-intentioned doctors or patients.

The unbridled enthusiasm and commercial dynamism generated by psychedelics are exaggerated and ill-advised until we have more in-depth research. We hate being a buzz kill, but science and wisdom say slower is better.

Jeffrey Lieberman
Kevin Sabet
Dr. Lieberman is the Chair of Psychiatry at Columbia University and Dr. Sabet is a Fellow at Yale University.

Our moral obligations in Afghanistan

About the editor:

On “What We Can Learn From Fearless Girls” (Column, May 17):

Nicholas Kristof has shed light on several truths to face when US troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan. We support his proposals and call on our government to make a moral obligation to provide security and even asylum to the Afghans who have supported US operations. to the practical need to provide educational assistance, especially to girls, and to provide security for all women and girls, many of whom fear US withdrawal and on whom the practical future of the country depends.

As civil society activists with firsthand knowledge of the benefits of education for Afghan girls, we ask the United States not to give it up, but to work with the world community to provide assistance in education and other basic security needs and to ensure physical security through a United Nations Peacekeeping Force.

Betty Reardon
Chloe Breyer
new York
Ms. Reardon, a feminist peace educator, is the founding director emeritus of the International Institute for Peace Education. Ms. Breyer, an episcopal priestess, is the director of the Interfaith Center in New York.