The Psychedelic Horizon: Federal and State Shifts Reshaping Behavioral Health Law and Practice
This Briefing is brought to you by AHLA’s Behavioral Health Practice Group.
- July 21, 2026
- Shalyn Watkins , Holland & Knight LLP
The legal architecture governing psychedelic substances in the United States is undergoing a transformation of historic proportions. For more than half a century, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA) consigned psychedelics to Schedule I—a classification for substances deemed to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. That regulatory posture is now shifting rapidly: an executive order from President Donald Trump directing federal agencies to accelerate psychedelic drug access, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issuance of priority vouchers and forthcoming clinical trial guidance, and a growing patchwork of state legislation ranging from decriminalization to fully regulated therapeutic frameworks.
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