Most abstinent NYU trial patients stayed in remission after an extra psilocybin session, but heavy drinkers' gains faded
In an open-label extension of NYU Langone's psilocybin trial for alcohol use disorder, most people who started it abstinent stayed in remission after one more psilocybin session, while those still drinking heavily drank less at month 1 and then went back to their earlier levels. The paper, from the Manhattan center that led the original trial, tempers hopes that a repeat session alone keeps working for heavy drinkers.
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New York, October 15, 2026. Researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine's Center for Psychedelic Medicine published results on October 15, 2026 from an open-label extension of their phase 2 trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder. The paper appears in Drug and Alcohol Dependence (volume 288, article 113387); its senior author is Michael Bogenschutz, and two co-authors are at the University of New Mexico.1
The trial it follows
The original study (NCT02061293) ran at NYU Langone's Clinical and Translational Science Institute in Manhattan and at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.2 It randomized 95 adults to two sessions of psilocybin or of diphenhydramine, an antihistamine used as an active placebo, alongside 12 weeks of psychotherapy. Over 32 weeks, heavy drinking days made up 9.7% of days in the psilocybin group and 23.6% in the diphenhydramine group (P = .01), according to the 2022 report in JAMA Psychiatry.3
What the extension did
After the blinded phase ended, 59 adults from the trial took part in the extension: 29 who had received psilocybin and 30 who had received diphenhydramine. Each had one open-label psilocybin session with four hours of manualized therapy. The paper reports that the session gave psilocybin 25 to 40 mg per 70 kg of body weight. The team then followed drinking, craving, confidence in staying abstinent and readiness for treatment for four months.1
What it found
- Safety: psilocybin was well tolerated, and no serious adverse events occurred.1
- People still drinking heavily: among participants with higher drinking intensity when they entered the extension, heavy drinking days, drinks per day and drinking days all fell at month 1 "but returned to entry levels thereafter."1
- People who came in abstinent: the single session "was associated with maintained remission among most participants who entered abstinent."1
- Craving and confidence: craving, abstinence self-efficacy and treatment readiness improved in both groups a week after the session, then varied.1
The authors say the data can't show why the heavier drinkers' reductions were short-lived. They list possible reasons: the lower intensity of the extension treatment, "the relative treatment resistance of residual drinking," differences in motivation, or other design factors.1 Everyone in the extension received psilocybin, so it has no comparison group.
Why it matters in New York
NYU Langone set up its Center for Psychedelic Medicine in Manhattan in 2021, with addiction among its research areas.4 The center is now recruiting for a new phase 2 alcohol trial, NCT06349083, a placebo-controlled study of 200 planned participants that uses brain imaging to look at how psilocybin-assisted treatment works.5 Our New York trials list has it and the other studies recruiting in the state.
The findings come from supervised sessions with therapy inside a trial, not from using mushrooms outside one. For what's legal in New York today, see psilocybin therapy in NYC; for crisis lines, see safety and help.
Sources
- Pagni BA, Ross S, et al. Safety and efficacy of psilocybin-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder: open-label extension of a phase II randomized controlled trial. Drug Alcohol Depend, 2026 Nov 1;288:113387 (online October 15, 2026). PMID 42913354.
- A Double-Blind Trial of Psilocybin-Assisted Treatment of Alcohol Dependence, NCT02061293. ClinicalTrials.gov, NYU Langone Health; read November 2, 2026.
- Bogenschutz MP, Ross S, et al. Percentage of heavy drinking days following psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy vs placebo in the treatment of adult patients with alcohol use disorder: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 2022;79(10):953-962. PMID 36001306.
- NYU Langone Health establishes Center for Psychedelic Medicine. NYU Langone Health, February 24, 2021.
- Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Psilocybin-assisted Treatment for AUD, NCT06349083. ClinicalTrials.gov, NYU Langone Health; record last updated September 2, 2026, read November 2, 2026.
Keep reading
Which psilocybin clinical trials are recruiting in New York?Every psilocybin study with a New York site: who's recruiting at NYU Langone, Mount Sinai and the Bronx VA, and how screening works.
Can you get legal psilocybin therapy in NYC?Trials, Spravato and ketamine clinics, Oregon and Colorado: what's legal for New Yorkers now, and what isn't.
Where can you get help or drug checking for psilocybin in NYC?Who to call first, the Good Samaritan law, what NYC drug checking can and can't test, and who psilocybin trials exclude.
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