UCSF will follow up to 3,000 people who take psychedelics on their own, to learn why the drugs help some and harm others

UC San Francisco researchers have launched a worldwide study that will follow as many as 3,000 people who plan to take psychedelic drugs outside a lab, to learn what the drugs do to their brains, bodies and well-being, the university announced Tuesday.

Psychedelics such as psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” are being tested as possible treatments for conditions such as depression.  But most of that research happens in carefully controlled clinical trials, while most real-world use happens at home or at retreats, where almost no reliable data are collected, according to ARPA-H, the federal agency paying for the work.  The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

How the study works

The study, called CANOPY, will not give anyone drugs or tell them what to take, UCSF says.  It enrolls adults who already plan to use a psychedelic and are willing to fill out standardized questionnaires before and after, and for up to six months afterward.  The substances covered include psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, ibogaine, MDMA and ketamine.  Most of the study is done remotely.  Participants who can travel to UCSF will also get brain scans and EEG, a recording of the brain’s electrical activity, give blood and saliva samples and wear devices that collect body data.

The goal is to separate the effects of the drug from those of the person’s biology, mindset and surroundings, and to understand why experiences can turn out so differently from one person to another.  Researchers hope the findings will guide future clinical trials and help weigh the risks and benefits of using psychedelics outside research settings.

Who is leading it

CANOPY is led by Robin Carhart-Harris, a UCSF professor of neurology, and received up to $1.4 million from ARPA-H.  It is one of three UCSF psychedelic projects receiving up to $8.5 million in total from the agency.  The others are a $4 million study of how mindset and setting shape psychedelic effects, and a study of up to $3.1 million of psychedelics in older adults with low well-being and early biological signs linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

What is known so far

The evidence is still unsettled.  Last week, scientists at UC Berkeley, UCSF and Stanford reported in Nature Neuroscience that when five labs ran identical psilocybin experiments in mice, the only effects they could repeat were brief:  more anxiety and avoidance and less fear 10 minutes after a dose, with no lasting changes a day later.  Mouse results do not show what happens in people.

UCSF says it does not provide psychedelics or direct anyone to obtain them.  Enrollment information is on the study’s website.

Sources:  UCSF news release, Nov. 10, 2026; ARPA-H award page for the UCSF Canopy Project; CANOPY study page, Carhart-Harris Lab; UC Berkeley Neuroscience on the psilocybin mouse studies, Nov. 4, 2026.