Racial Differences in Naturalistic Psychedelic Use — Motivations for Use, Communication with Health Care Providers, and Outcomes

People of Color have been under-included in psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) research. Researchers have argued that systemic issues resulting in harms to communities of color like the War on Drugs and recurrent exposure to discrimination in healthcare settings may reduce their willingness to engage in PAT research. However, there are no empirical data regarding People of Color’s trust or willingness in using psychedelics with support of trained healthcare providers. Therefore, we analyzed data from a large-scale survey of people using psychedelics to explore interactions between People of Color and healthcare providers in North America. The sample included 3,547 White people, 448 People of Color, and 377 Multiracial people. A lower proportion of People of Color consumed psychedelics with the support of a trained provider but an equal proportion had disclosed psychedelic use to primary care providers. Further, People of Color were equally motivated to use psychedelics with a trained healthcare provider, used psychedelics to treat similar issues, and similarly reported psychedelics as effective with other groups. Our findings suggest that lack of trust may not fully explain the underrepresentation of People of Color in PAT research, and future studies should investigate other barriers to People of Color’s inclusion in PAT research.