The Adverse Effects & Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelic Medicines
A Guide to the Risks and Rewards of Using Psychedelics in Therapy
Drawing on current research, interviews with leading researchers in the United States and England, and case studies from sixty years of clinical practice, Dr. Miller details the adverse effects and therapeutic potential of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, ayahuasca, DMT, ketamine, mescaline, ibogaine, and more.
“That trust took nearly a century to build. It took only five years to destroy. The same window is now open for psychedelic medicine.”
Chapter 1 · Full Transparency
Why this book, why now
On April 18, 2026, the President signed an executive order fast-tracking federal review of psychedelic medicines. Stocks of publicly-traded psychedelic pharmaceutical companies moved by double digits within days. Many of us in the psychedelic community are excited. I am one of them.
And yet the medicines were not made legal by the signing of a document. What was fast-tracked was research. Research still has to pass through the Food and Drug Administration, which rejected MDMA-assisted therapy about a year ago for reasons this book examines in detail. And the commercial apparatus gathering around psychedelic medicine is beginning to look, in some ways, like the commercial apparatus that surrounded a blockbuster pharmaceutical called Vioxx in the late nineteen-nineties.
The medicines are not the risk. The pattern is. I wrote this book to say so in time for it to matter.
What's in the book
Interviews with Jules Evans, Stephan V. Beyer, Nicholas Cozzi, Charles Grob, Rick Doblin, and others. In-depth clinical profiles of 2C-B, 5-APB, 5-MeO-DMT, ayahuasca, DMT, DOM, ibogaine, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, mescaline, psilocybin, and salvia.
“We cannot trust the information we get from cigarette, alcohol, and pharmaceutical companies and even some academic institutions, as profit motives too often override public health concerns.”
Prologue
“This is not a book of warning; it is a book of hope. By confronting these challenges directly, we can help these medicines fulfill their true healing potential while protecting those who seek their benefits.”
Chapter 12 · The Way Forward
About the author
Dr. Richard Louis Miller, MA, PhD, has been a clinical psychologist for over sixty years. He founded the Cokenders Alcohol and Drug Program and hosts the Mind Body Health & Politics radio show and podcast. His previous books include Psychedelic Medicine (2017), Psychedelic Wisdom (2022), Freeing Sexuality (2023), Integral Psychedelic Therapy (2023), and Psychedelic Medicine at the End of Life (2024). He lives in California.
More about Richard →Pre-order the book
On sale May 5, 2026. Published by Park Street Press, an imprint of Inner Traditions. Available in hardcover and ebook.
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