FDA Holds Public Hearing on Safety and Access Standards for Future Psychedelic Therapy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration held a public hearing on September 14 to gather input on how psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin might one day be used as supervised medical treatments, according to a report by Medical Daily. Doctors, veterans, pharmacists, and therapists urged regulators to set clear standards for provider training, patient screening, and follow-up care. The hearing followed an April executive order directing federal agencies to speed research and review of psychedelic treatments for serious mental illness, and it explicitly excluded questions of drug scheduling or legalization from its scope. The FDA stressed that the hearing itself is not an approval and that any future therapeutic use would still depend on standard safety and effectiveness review. Written public comments remain open through October 5.