A World Trying To Heal: Psychedelic Use At All-Time High
by MADELINE FERGUSON
A new study suggests that 5.5 million adults in the United States use hallucinogens. That number has been climbing since 2002.
Also of note, cannabis use continues to rise.
While the number of adults who self-report using psychedelics is up, use among teens seems to be down.
These stats come from a study conducted by Columbia University in New York City.
Hallucinogens in the study include substances like LSD, Psilocybin and MDMA. Here at The Utah Bee we cover those extensively. If you are curious about what those substances are, check out our Hallucinogens 101 reports.
“While new findings suggesting benefits from the use of certain hallucinogens among a range of cognitive areas are being published at a rapid rate, there are still gaps in knowledge concerning safe hallucinogen use, and evidence for potential adverse effects even with professionally supervised use that warrant attention,” said first author Ofir Livne, MD, MPH, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of epidemiology at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, in a statement.
While the study authors are evaluating both the negative and positive impacts that may come from this new information, I will take the positive approach (there’s enough negativity in the world).
At a time when it feels like the world needs healing, it seems many adults may be opening their minds to the healing power of hallucinogens. From Netflix documentaries to New York Times best-sellers the conversation about the healing powers is growing louder.
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The study does not dig into specifics of how, when or how much adults are partaking in hallucinogens but one researcher did say that some of the uptick may be due to the rising popularity in microdosing.
Microdosing often involves taking a small amount of psilocybin, not enough to “trip”, daily as part of a daily wellness routine. Many people report great success in healing from mental illness and other ailments when starting a microdosing plan. This method is also used by folks looking to increase creativity, energy and mood.
Many studies have found benefits in using psychedelics to treat PTSD, depression and even eating disorders.
One of the most incredible things about using something like psilocybin to treat a mental health problem is that, unlike an antidepressant medication that you have to take every day and live with the possible side effects, psilocybin is a one time treatment paired with integration therapy. People may choose to do more treatments if the depression or mental illness starts to come back, but it is by no means a daily medication.
This uptick of use indicates interest from the general population in using psychedelics, which we can only hope will send a message to lawmakers that decriminalization and medical use should be on their minds.
If you’d like to learn more about the healing powers of psychedelics, I highly recommend the documentary ‘How To Change Your Mind’ on Netflix.
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