I don’t think “placebo” is the right word here. Honestly, I find use of the term placebo in scientific research to be a problematic oversimplification. Any drug that acts on the brain will necessarily interact with the mind and biology of the individual taking it as well as that individual’s sociopolitical and spiritual environments and experiences. The word “placebo” oversimplifies the complicated relationship between mind, body, and society in healing. The author who summarized the article put it this way:

“Jones and his colleague Matthew K. Nock outlined some potential mechanisms that may underlie the results. One such mechanism might be the “set and setting,” which refers to an individual’s mindset and their environment, respectively. These two factors “are reported to have a marked impact on the effects of these compounds,” the researchers explained. “Unfortunately, in the American ‘setting,’ racism, prejudice, and discrimination are deep-rooted features of the minority experience and may thus negatively impact the minority psychedelic experience.”

However, Jones noted that the findings are correlational. “It doesn’t mean that psychedelics have weaker effects for treating mental health disorders for racial and ethnic minorities,” he said. It is also possible that unaccounted demographic factors contribute to the observed findings.