Psychedelics Journalism is Biased

In recent years, there’s been an uptick in interest in psychedelic drugs and their potential healing abilities. In August 2024, the FDA rejected approval for MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy)-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed for the legalization of psychedelics when he was campaigning for president. According to the Associated Press (Left bias), “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and FDA also recently hired several new staffers with ties to the psychedelic movement.” Energy Secretary Rick Perry and former Senator Krysten Sinema are also advocates for the drugs. 

Although psychedelics have been championed by some in the Trump administration, they aren’t a partisan issue. The psychedelic movement is much broader than the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, dating back to the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War and earlier. Pro-psychedelic bias is an example of media bias that falls outside the left-right political spectrum. 

It’s unclear whether the FDA, under the Trump administration, will reevaluate and potentially legalize the use of MDMA or other psychedelics for medical use. However, as the lines between objectivity, advocacy, and journalism have blurred, some journalists have displayed bias toward psychedelics. 

The New York Times

In the New York Times (Lean Left) newsletter “The Morning,” “expert beat reporters” Andrew Jacobs and Ernesto Londoño answered reader questions about psychedelics. 

The Times described Jacobs as covering psychedelic medicine for the science desk. The word choice, “psychedelic medicine,” as opposed to just psychedelics, perhaps already portrays the bias of the Times on the subject. While psychedelics are being used in clinical trials as treatments for mental health conditions like severe depression and PTSD, they’re also used recreationally by many. Typically, when a substance can be used in positive and negative ways, we title it with something neutrally descriptive about what it does — opioid, painkiller, stimulant. In cases where it makes sense to specify that in this context we’re referring to a substance’s use in a medical setting, we can use the term medical, as in the case of medical marijuana. Although the term “plant medicine” is often used to refer both to marijuana and psychedelics, those are terms typically used by advocates of the substances because “medicine” emphasizes the healing qualities of the substances. It’s unlikely you’d hear marijuana referred to as “medicine” rather than “medical marijuana” in a mainstream news article. 

The newsletter heavily leans on the reporters’ expertise, with little citation. For example, on the risks of psychedelics, Jacobs says, “Most psychedelics have a low risk profile when taken at standard doses in supervised settings. But there are short-term psychological risks, including anxiety, paranoia and confusion, that can be brought on by an especially intense experience. (Read below for more on ‘bad trips.’) There is less data on the long-term risks, but there have been rare cases of long-lasting paranoia, mood disturbances and hallucinations — symptoms that mirror schizophrenia.” He does not link to or cite any sources to back up his claims. 

Jules Evans, the director of the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project, said in a LinkedIn post, “Where did he get this from?? Schizophrenia is an extremely rare post-psychedelic side effect, much more common is things like anxiety and feeling traumatized by the bad trip.”

Londoño says later in the newsletter, “Last year, nearly t10 [sic] percent of people between the ages of 19 and 30 reported having used psychedelics in the past year, an all-time high. (Pun kind of intended.) More than 5 percent of older people said the same, a fivefold increase from 2019,” again, without citing or linking to a source. 

When asked whether people can be stuck in “bad trips,” Londoño replied in part, “On rare occasions, people can experience distorted perception and struggle to perform certain tasks for days or even months. This phenomenon is called hallucinogen persisting perception disorder [HPPD], and scientists don’t understand what causes it. (One example: An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot had a breakdown during a flight in 2023 after taking mushrooms and tried to crash a plane.)” Here, Londoño appears to mix up HPPD with several other symptoms that he doesn’t name. 

According to the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project, common symptoms include HPPD, anxiety (including PTSD), derealization and depersonalization, feelings of social disconnection, feelings of depression/broken or diminished self, existential and ontological difficulties including entity-encounters, cognitive difficulties, psychosis-like symptoms, sleep disturbance and nightmares, interpersonal harms/psychedelic abuse, nervous system dysregulation and somatic problems, and visions of childhood abuse. While HPPD can cause people to struggle to perform tasks for days or months, so can many of the other symptoms listed above that go unmentioned. Cures to HPPD aren’t well understood, and HPPD type II is considered lifelong, which Londoño does not mention. He also implies that the Alaska Airlines attempted plane crash was a result of HPPD; however, according to the Times’ own reporting, the off-duty pilot felt like he was stuck in a dream — a symptom known as derealization. 

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal (Center) ran a piece in June on the increasing use of psychedelics in Silicon Valley: “More people in the tech world have been turning to psychedelics, often with the explicit purpose of unlocking efficiency, potential or meaning…It’s not unusual for techies who do psychedelics for pure entertainment to accidentally find themselves in an existential crisis. Some emerge from their experiences wanting to re-evaluate their work life and bring it into a greater balance with new discoveries of God or the interconnectedness of all living things. Others want to quit, finding the office grind to now be an extra dose of meaninglessness.”

The article quoted five figures, including a psychologist who said psychedelic journeys in Silicon Valley are a way to “reawaken creativity” in the office and are “a part of team building.” It then quoted a psychedelic user who “found they helped with his anxiety” and eventually left the tech industry, and two integration therapists. In the last paragraphs, it mentioned a man who went to Brazil for an ayahuasca ceremony. “After an expensive and physically brutal experience—the hallucinogenic brew often causes people to vomit for hours—the client came back disappointed…At one point, the client shared a fleeting insight he had while throwing up in the Amazon. It ended up being one of his main takeaways. ‘He said he realized maybe this is what life is all about,’ said Phelps. ‘It’s being able to sit with the awfulness of life without complaining about it.’”

Overall, each of the stories featured in the piece was a story of positive transformation — an example of slant. The piece did not quote anyone who felt their experience had no value or who was struggling with after effects of psychedelics. 

Why The Bias?

The psychedelic community is rife with polarized infighting. Most people involved in the work have experience ingesting psychedelics, and researchers and journalists have blurred the line between the objectivity required in their role and personal advocacy based on their experience. 

For example, chemist and drug journalist Hamilton Morris, who wrote about psychedelics for Vice (Left) for many years, has taken a variety of rare substances. He firmly opposes drug prohibition and explained that opposition to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), including claims that it is a cult, are unfounded and originate from a woman who was upset that her father donated large amounts of money to MAPS upon his death. 

The Free Press (Lean Right) alternatively noted, “Other MAPS educational material on ‘bad trips’ suggests that even psychotic breakdowns can have therapeutic value and be considered ‘sacred.’ When I asked the organization about this several months ago, the page was swiftly updated with a note claiming it ‘should not be interpreted as representative of MAPS’s views or positions.’ Such unconventional behavior is exactly the sort of thing that has made some psychedelic advocates critical of MAPS.”

While Morris attributed the FDA’s rejection of MDMA as a treatment for PTSD in 2024 to biased paid opposition, the Wall Street Journal reported on three subjects who said their suicidal thoughts worsened after the MDMA trip and that it wasn’t recorded in the study: “The study subjects said they felt pressure to report positive outcomes, because that would lead to a history-making drug approval.” 

Like journalists, researchers have been cross-pollinating between advocacy and research. Regarding the MDMA trials, the Wall Street Journal reported that “Lykos Therapeutics, the company sponsoring the studies, recruited researchers conducting the testing from the ranks of therapists who had given ecstasy illicitly and advocated for the drug’s use, according to people familiar with the matter.” Lykos, which is predominantly owned by MAPS, denied that it recruited therapists from the underground or had any knowledge of illegal MDMA sessions. 

Outside of MAPS, researchers at major universities are hosting virtual events about their research with organizations that lobby for psilocybin and “are on a mission to harness the healing power of mushrooms and share it with the world.”

Conversations in the psychedelic community often revolve around legalization versus prohibition, and some who favor legalization view any emphasis on the risks as an impediment to the goal of legalization. There is an incentive for legalization advocates to emphasize both the healing benefits and safety of the substances, so journalists bleeding over into advocates can result in biased journalism, preventing people from seeing the whole picture and deciding the risk level for themselves. 

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Clare Ashcraft is the Bridging Coordinator & Media Analyst at AllSides. She has a Center bias.

Reviewed by Krystal Woodworth, Marketing Communications Manager (Lean Left) and Malayna Bizier, News Analyst and Social Media Editor (Right).