Trials reveal blinding issues affecting trial integrity in psychedelics, suggesting need for better controls.
When conducting randomized controlled trials, the study drug is pitted against a placebo. The problem with psychedelics trials is that subjects always know when they have been given a psychedelic. The only “placebo” for a psychedelic is another drug with similar properties, because psychedelics have such obvious effects.
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Alison Knopf (2026) studied this question.
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