Use of psilocybin (“mushrooms”) among US adults: 2015–2018

Yockey, R. Andrew; King, Keith A.

doi:10.1556/2054.2020.00159

Cited by 40 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The objective of the present analysis was to ascertain knowledge about PMs among American adults and explore associations between PM use and various general and self-reported mental health outcome measures. Our findings confirm the popularity of psychedelics more broadly and PMs specifically among the US adult population (19,31,32). Estimated past-year psychedelic use of 7,7%, which equated to approximately 17,9 million adult Americans (95%CI: 16.4 – 19,4 million) was almost three times higher than recorded in the NSDUH, which estimated past-year hallucinogen use at just more than 6 million persons in 2019.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…Psilocybin, which is the main psychoactive ingredient in more than 200 species of psychedelic mushrooms (PM) (19), has a particularly benign safety profile and possible positive health effects (20). It has been shown to be comparable to traditional selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors in treating major depressive disorder under clinical trial conditions than (3)(21).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychedelic mushrooms in the USA: Knowledge, patterns of use and association with health outcomes

Matzopoulos

Morlock

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Introduction: Popular media coverage, including of recent positive late stage clinical trials in depression and PTSD, and decriminalization initiatives, are transforming the public perception of psychedelics. However, little is known about levels of knowledge and personal use of psychedelic mushroom(s) (PM) among American adults. Methods: We examined PM use and various measures of health status, quality of life and self-reported mental health outcome measures obtained through a national on-line, cross-sectional survey of adults with a demographic composition representative of the US adult population by region, gender, age, and race (weighted N = 251,297,495) from November 2020-March 2021. Results: General mental health and well-being was a popular reason for PM use (63.6%). PM users were less likely to be overweight than non-users, but overall quality of life (VR-12) was lower for mental health (39.5 vs 45.5). PM users reported significantly higher levels of anxiety (GAD-7 scores of 9.6 vs 5.9) and depression (PHQ-9 scores of 11.2 vs 6.8). They were less likely to have health insurance [OR=0.50 (0.35-0.72)], but reported significantly more healthcare services utilization. Discussion and Conclusions: There is a mismatch between our findings of an association between PM use and poor mental health outcomes, and current discourse on the positive health benefits of PM consumption. A significant number of Americans are already self medicating with PM and further research to understand the role of anecdotal knowledge and pseudoscientific information in PM uptake. There is an urgent need for a PM use-related national harm reduction strategy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychedelic mushrooms in the USA: Knowledge, patterns of use and association with health outcomes

Matzopoulos

Morlock

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Psilocybin, which is the main psychoactive ingredient in more than 200 species of psychedelic mushrooms (PM) ( 13 ), has a particularly benign safety profile and possible positive health effects ( 14 ). Alongside the recent increase in information on its promising therapeutic use, the COVID-19 pandemic has considerably increased societal stress, which adds to the propensity to self-medicate as a coping mechanism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychedelic Mushrooms in the USA: Knowledge, Patterns of Use, and Association With Health Outcomes

Matzopoulos

Morlock²,

Morlock

et al. 2022

Front. Psychiatry

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Introduction: Popular media coverage of psychedelics use, growing research into this class of compounds for psychiatry and decriminalization initiatives, are transforming the public perception of psychedelics. However, little is known about levels of knowledge and psychedelic mushroom (PM) use among American adults.Methods: We examined PM use and various measures of health status, quality of life, and self-reported mental health outcome measures obtained through a national on-line, cross-sectional survey of adults with a demographic composition representative of the US adult population by region, gender, age, and race (weighted N = 251,297,495) from November 2020–March 2021.Results: General mental health and well-being were popular reasons for PM use (63.6%), although use for medically-diagnosed (31.8%) and self-diagnosed (19.0%) conditions was also common. PM users reported more depression and anxiety as reflected in higher GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores. Factors predictive of PM use included being male [OR 1.54 95%CI 1.09–2.15] and having higher Charlson Comorbidity Index scores [OR 1.42; 95%CI 1.22–1.65]. Self-reported PM use was less likely among participants with health insurance [OR = 0.50 (0.35–0.72)], increased age [OR = 0.92 (0.90–0.93)] and, relative to those living in the west US census region, living in the northeast [OR = 0.27 (0.15–0.50)], midwest [OR = 0.34 (0.20–0.56)], and south [OR = 0.38 (0.26–0.55)].Discussion and Conclusions: A significant number of Americans are already “self-medicating” with PM and as growing positive media coverage of psychedelics drives public interest in the health benefits of PM, this number will increase. The association between PM use and poor mental health requires further research to inform policy.

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“…Therefore, DC services have been required to detect and monitor evermore substances, which is often limited by the available analysis techniques [11,12]. Along with the renewed scientific interest in the therapeutic potential of serotonergic psychedelics (SPs) like LSD, psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine in "magic mushrooms"), and ayahuasca [13], reports also indicate a comparably low but increasing recreational use of SPs in recent years [14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safer Tripping: Serotonergic Psychedelics and Drug Checking. Submission and Detection Rates, Potential Harms, and Challenges for Drug Analysis

et al. 2021

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Purpose of Review With the continuous emergence of new psychoactive substances, drug checking (DC) services are challenged by an increasingly complex drug market. Considering the resumed scientific and public interest in serotonergic psychedelics (SPs) like LSD, psilocybin, and 2C-B, we present the results of a literature search investigating the presence and proportion of SPs in DC samples. Recent Findings In 15 identified reports, submission and detection rates of SPs were comparably low, but increasing. Samples contained considerable amounts of adulterations or analogues, mostly novel SPs with unknown toxicological profiles and in some cases potentially life-threatening effects. The detection of SPs, however, requires advanced analysis techniques currently not available to most DC services. Summary Given the substantial proportion of novel SPs in DC samples and the associated risks, DC can be a valuable harm reduction and monitoring tool for SPs if analysis techniques with high sensitivity are employed.

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Use of psilocybin (“mushrooms”) among US adults: 2015–2018

Cited by 40 publications

References 24 publications

Psychedelic mushrooms in the USA: Knowledge, patterns of use and association with health outcomes

Psychedelic mushrooms in the USA: Knowledge, patterns of use and association with health outcomes

Psychedelic Mushrooms in the USA: Knowledge, Patterns of Use, and Association With Health Outcomes

Safer Tripping: Serotonergic Psychedelics and Drug Checking. Submission and Detection Rates, Potential Harms, and Challenges for Drug Analysis

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