Master's/Precandidate Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant - McKinney

This project will explore how individuals are evaluating knowledge on psychedelic use and provider expertise, and how that influences access and use. In particular it will investigate how psychedelic users are evaluating what they believe counts as accurate or important information about psychedelics and the mechanisms that influence their decision to use psychedelics in partnership with a supportive licensed or unlicensed individual, or to pursue use on their own. Exploration of these dynamics is particularly salient because: 1) there is growing interest in incorporating psychedelics into the healthcare system in the U.S, for psychotherapeutic use; 2) it is unclear how integrating psychedelics into the healthcare system will impact access, particularly for marginalized groups; and 3) the alternative model to access, decriminalization of natural psychedelics outside of medical settings, poses questions about access and safety that are largely unexplored in research and policy.