Ethics Statement

Our Purpose

The Psychedelic Safety Institute (PSI) serves as a research and insight-gathering organization dedicated to building comprehensive safety frameworks for the psychedelic ecosystem. Through systematic data collection, stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based analysis, we work to ensure that the psychedelic ecosystem prioritizes public health and safety while remaining accessible and effective.

Core Ethical Principles

1. Field Intelligence Through Evidence-Based Research

We commit to rigorous, evidence-based approaches to understanding safety by:

• Conducting comprehensive surveys and field research with over 300 stakeholders including practitioners, participants, regulators, and community leaders

• Synthesizing insights from academic literature, institutional data, and lived experience

• Creating accessible educational resources tailored to specific audiences (first responders, practitioners, non-clinical users, and family members)

• Publishing all findings publicly and anonymously on our website to benefit the entire field

• Maintaining methodological transparency in all data collection and analysis

2. Field Coordination and Strategic Alignment

We unite a fragmented ecosystem through collaborative action by:

• Listening deeply to stakeholder needs through systematic engagement

• Analyzing findings to identify critical gaps and strategic opportunities

• Convening diverse leaders to develop evidence-based solutions (as demonstrated through our Psychedelic Safety Summit with 140 participants)

• Supporting sustained implementation through ongoing coordination and capacity building

• Building bridges between research evidence, policy development, and real-world safety practices

3. Accessible Field Tools and Infrastructure

We provide practical resources that empower coordinated action by:

• Developing interactive tools like our Theory of Change framework and Ecosystem Map

• Creating visual databases of organizations to facilitate partnership and collaboration

• Mapping relationships between worldviews, outcomes, problems, and projects

• Enabling stakeholders to identify gaps, opportunities, and potential collaborations

• Supporting data-driven decision-making across the ecosystem

4. Equity and Accessibility in Safety Frameworks

We ensure safety frameworks serve all communities by:

• Gathering insights from marginalized and underserved populations

• Analyzing economic barriers that compromise safety or drive people to less safe alternatives

• Understanding how cultural factors influence safety practices

• Supporting Indigenous relationships through ethical reciprocity models

• Advocating for safety measures that don't exclude vulnerable populations

• Supporting workforce development that includes diverse safety perspectives

5. Proactive Public Health Protection

We take a preventive approach to safety challenges by:

• Identifying emerging safety concerns through continuous field monitoring

• Creating typologies for risks, harms, and misconduct to support prevention

• Building case studies from real-world incidents to inform best practices

• Facilitating dialogue on safety standards across legal, therapeutic, underground, and campus contexts

• Supporting crisis response protocols and harm reduction infrastructure

• Prioritizing public wellbeing over any particular interest or ideology

Our Commitments

To the Public: We continue gathering and sharing insights that protect public health and safety while supporting responsible access to psychedelic therapies.

To Practitioners: We provide data and analysis that helps you deliver services safely and effectively, understanding both opportunities and challenges in the field.

To Participants: We amplify your voices and experiences to ensure safety frameworks reflect real-world needs and concerns.

To Policymakers and Regulators: We provide evidence-based insights from comprehensive stakeholder engagement to inform policy decisions that balance safety with accessibility and equity.

To Other Field Organizations: We commit to collaborating and coordinating to ensure we are not duplicating efforts, ensuring we maintain transparency and are advancing the ecosystem together. 

To Researchers: We maintain rigorous methodological standards, share our findings openly, and collaborate to advance collective understanding of psychedelic safety.

To Indigenous Communities: We commit to supporting ethical reciprocity, respecting traditional knowledge, and ensuring Indigenous voices are centered in discussions about plant medicines.

To Funders: We provide transparent reporting on how resources advance field-wide safety infrastructure and public benefit outcomes.

Our Approach: Listen, Analyze, Align, Support

Our field coordination methodology transforms complex challenges into coordinated action:

1. Listen to the Ecosystem: We aim to capture what's really happening on the ground

• We gather insights through:

  • Comprehensive Surveys & Interviews: Collecting data from participants, practitioners, facilitators, integration specialists, manufacturers, communities and organizations. 

  • Stakeholder Mapping: Understanding relationships and dynamics within the ecosystem

  • Market Analysis: Assessing economic factors that impact safety and access

  • Media Monitoring: Tracking public discourse and safety concerns

  • Global Lessons: Incorporating international best practices and learnings

  • Relationship Building: Fostering and sustaining lasting relationships for seamless collaborations and communication throughout the field

2. Analyze What We Learn: We synthesize findings into clear insights about what's working, what's missing, and where opportunities exist

3. Align Stakeholders Around Strategy: We convene diverse leaders to review findings and commit to coordinated action

4. Support Implementation: We ensure initiatives don't just launch—they sustain and scale through ongoing coordination

Focus Areas

Our safety research encompasses:

• Workforce Readiness: Training quality, geographic distribution, and practitioner preparedness

• Access and Economics: Understanding cost barriers that may drive people to less safe alternatives

• Quality Control: Standards for products, services, and facilities

• Integration Support: Ensuring adequate support systems for participant safety

• Harm Reduction: Addressing risks in both regulated and unregulated contexts

• Public Education: Building awareness of safety considerations and best practices

• Data Infrastructure: Supporting evidence collection to inform future programs

Accountability

We hold ourselves accountable through:

• Regular publication of research findings and safety insights

• Transparent methodology in all data collection and analysis

• Measuring our impact through improvements in safety outcomes across the ecosystem

• Measuring our impact by improvements in safety outcomes across the ecosystem

• Soliciting feedback from diverse stakeholders on our research priorities and resources developed

• Continuous refinement of our approaches based on emerging safety data

• Maintaining independence while fostering collaborative safety solutions

• Operating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with public benefit as our sole mission

Learning from Challenges

When we encounter ethical challenges or make mistakes, we will:

• Acknowledge them transparently

• Analyze what went wrong and why

• Implement corrective measures

• Share lessons learned with the field

• Update our practices to prevent recurrence

Your perspectives help us better serve the psychedelic ecosystem. Whether you're a researcher, practitioner, participant, policymaker, or community member, your insights matter. Together, we can build safety frameworks that truly serve everyone.

We Welcome Your Input

We actively seek feedback from all stakeholders to ensure our work remains aligned with community needs and values.

Here is the form where you can provide us with any feedback.

Looking Forward

As psychedelic programs expand across states and potentially at the federal level, PSI remains committed to our role as an independent safety research organization. We recognize that building robust safety frameworks requires not just data, but collaboration and consensus between the entire ecosystem. We aim to achieve success through insights that would enhance  the safety and effectiveness of the psychedelic ecosystem to serve all members of society.  

We invite all stakeholders to participate in our research efforts and to use our publicly available findings to build a safer psychedelic ecosystem for everyone.