Why regulators may toss cold water on buzz over psychedelics

Psychedelics are gaining momentum as potential treatments for psychiatric conditions, but legal and regulatory conflicts could slow or limit that progress. The Harvard Gazette interviews Mason Marks, a Harvard Law School professor focused on psychedelics law and regulation, highlighting how state initiatives to create access and run trials may collide with federal drug scheduling rules. The risk is especially acute where state programs blur the line between health care and controlled substances. Marks points to how these tensions could draw scrutiny from federal regulators, and notes that even marketing or claims about therapeutic use could trigger enforcement or oversight. The overall takeaway is that the pathway to widespread use depends not only on evidence of clinical benefit, but also on how regulators handle state-federal mismatches for schedule 1 substances and the compliance boundaries around medical claims and service delivery.