The therapeutic effects of psychedelics for opioid use disorder: A systematic review of clinical studies.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review of predominantly non-randomized and high risk-of-bias clinical studies
PubMed 40147088 · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2025.116446
What was done
A systematic review was conducted to evaluate clinical studies on the therapeutic applications of psychedelics for opioid use disorder (OUD), summarizing current evidence and methodological quality.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data, sample sizes, or effect estimates. Few studies evaluated classical serotonergic psychedelics; most investigated ibogaine or ketamine. Most studies focused narrowly on opioid withdrawal, lacked double-blind or placebo-controlled designs, showed high methodological heterogeneity, and had a high risk of bias due to lack of randomization, blinding, and blinded outcome assessments.
Why it matters
Despite growing interest in non-opioid mechanisms for OUD, clinical evidence supporting psychedelics remains sparse, methodologically weak, and insufficient to establish efficacy.
Limits
The abstract provides no participant counts or quantitative outcomes. The primary literature is limited by pervasive risk of bias, lack of blinding and randomization, reliance on unblinded outcome assessments, and focus on acute withdrawal rather than sustained recovery.
Cited by
- supports Ibogaine is used to break the cycle of addiction.