Psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health: Policy considerations
Psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health conditions is being researched in clinical trials. There are associated benefits, risks and policy considerations.

A POSTnote outlining the challenges in developing new drugs to treat dementia, and an overview of UK and international research activities to accelerate progress.
New Drugs for Dementia (483 KB , PDF)
Dementia Infographic – Public Health England
Dementia is a syndrome characterised by progressive damage to nerve cells in the brain causing loss of cognitive function. Symptoms worsen over time and 24-hour care is needed in the latter stages.
At least 800,000 people in the UK have dementia and it costs £26.3bn per year in health and social care costs (fig 1), more than cancer and heart disease combined. The number of people with dementia and associated costs are predicted to more than double by 2050.
There are no licensed drugs that stop or slow the progression of dementia. UK Dementia policy in recent years has resulted in increased funding to advance treatment and care. Find out more about the Government’s approach to tackling dementia on its dementia topic page.
The key points in this POSTnote are:
New Drugs for Dementia (483 KB , PDF)
Psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health conditions is being researched in clinical trials. There are associated benefits, risks and policy considerations.
New parliamentary research project approved to explore the impacts of birthrate decline
This POSTnote summarises the ethical implications and regulatory considerations for deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI) in mental healthcare.