Latest news with #RockyMountainPoison&DrugSafety
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Psilocybin use rising among adults with mental health conditions: Denver Health study
DENVER (KDVR) — 'Magic mushrooms' are now legal in Colorado, and a recent study led by Denver Health researchers shows that more Americans are trying psilocybin mushrooms. The study was conducted by the Denver Health Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety division and co-authors from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration using five national datasets from 2014-2023 to look at psilocybin use in the U.S. Psychedelic therapy begins in Colorado, causing tension between conservatives and veterans The study found that the number of adult Americans who have tried psilocybin increased from 10%, or about 25 million Americans in 2019, to 12.1%, or about 31.3 million adults in 2023. The study said this is second only to marijuana use and is higher than opioid or methamphetamine use. The study found that people with moderate to severe depression, anxiety or chronic pain were 'significantly' more likely to report use of the substance. 'Psilocybin has entered the mainstream, and we're seeing sharp increases in use among adolescents and adults navigating mental health and chronic pain challenges,' said Karilynn M. Rockhill, PhD, co-lead author of the study and assistant scientist at Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety, in a Denver Health release. 'These results underscore a turning point in public health awareness and the need to respond with informed, compassionate and data-driven strategies.' Additionally, researchers found that 12th graders in the U.S. saw a 53% increase in past-year psilocybin use in 2023 compared to 2019. Past-year use increased in young adults by 44% and by 188% in adults over 30 years old, Denver Health reported, and between 2019 and 2023, psilocybin-related poison center exposure calls rose by 201% in adults, 317% in adolescents and 723% in children under 12 years old. The research team noted that between 2015 and 2021, only three psilocybin poisonings were documented nationally in emergency departments and outpatient facilities, which Denver Health said highlights a 'critical gap in public health surveillance.' 'This mismatch in data tells us, that until now, we've lacked visibility into the real-world health impacts of psilocybin use,' said Joshua C. Black, PhD, co-lead author and senior scientist at Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety at Denver Health, in a release. 'Without accurate coding and comprehensive surveillance systems, health systems and policymakers are missing key information needed to support and inform the public.' The study calls for more investments in better systems to track psilocybin use and health outcomes, and for better coding practices, evidence-based education on dosing and risks, and targeted interventions for individuals with co-occurring mental health or chronic pain conditions. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Psilocybin use is on the rise as public perception changes, report shows
More Americans are using psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. A report published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found psilocybin use has been rising since 2019, after remaining relatively stable for years. 'That tells us something is changing,' said Kari Rockhill, an epidemiologist and assistant statistical scientist at Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety in Denver, who worked on the report. In adults, a changing public perception of psychedelics is likely at the forefront of this shift — combined with decriminalization of psilocybin across several U.S. jurisdictions. 'We saw a similar phenomenon with cannabis when it started to be legalized across the country. There is probably a stigma around this that is going down,' Rockhill said. In 2019, the city of Denver voted to decriminalize the Schedule I drug, allowing people to grow and gift, but not sell, psychedelic mushrooms that contain psilocybin. Oregon followed suit in 2020, and decriminalization expanded to the entire state of Colorado in 2022. Books like Michael Pollan's 'How to Change Your Mind' have also helped change public perception of psychedelics, said Dr. Todd Korthuis, an internist and addiction medicine specialist at Oregon Health and Science University. 'This is not surprising at all given the developments over the last 10 years,' said Korthuis, who is also co-director of the Open Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus, which conducts research on psychedelics. Andrew Yockey, an assistant professor of public health at the University of Mississippi, added that an unregulated online market, mounting research that suggests psilocybin could be used as a treatment for mental health conditions, and a rise in microdosing also likely contributed to the increase in use. Indeed, the researchers found that psilocybin use was highest among adults with mental health or chronic pain conditions. Rockhill and her team analyzed five national databases that included self-reported data on psilocybin use, calls made to 55 poison control centers, and medical records to get a picture of how many people used psilocybin across the nation from 2014 through 2023. Overall, use of the drug remains relatively low: In 2023 — the most recent year for which data was available — just about 2% of adults in the U.S. said they had taken psilocybin in the past year. Twelve percent reported ever taking the drug, up from 10% in 2019, when rates began to increase. Among adults ages 18 to 29, past-year psilocybin use rose by 44%, to 2.1% in 2023; for adults ages 30 and up, use nearly tripled, to 1.8% in 2023. About 2.5% of 12th graders reported using psilocybin in the last year in 2023, a 53% increase from 2019. 'It is interesting to see the rise in adolescents,' Yockey said. 'I want to see where they are getting it from, why they are taking it.' The study also found that calls to poison control centers for psilocybin rose sharply over the study period, particularly among children ages 11 and under. In 2023, calls for this age group rose 723% from 2019, though the rates were still low, at less than one child per 100,000 people. For children 12 to 18, calls increased 317%, to just over two people per 100,000. Adults saw a 200% increase in calls, rising to a rate of less than half a person per 100,000. In addition, 1,550 people, including 1,192 adults, sought medical care because of psilocybin in 2023. From 2015 to 2021, there were just three cases involving medical care. The calls to poison control for the children under 11 in the report were almost certainly due to kids getting into psilocybin edibles that were not meant for them, Korthuis said. Although psilocybin alone has a relatively safe toxicology profile, meaning it's highly unlikely to cause life-threatening physical health problems, an unregulated market of edibles can lead to people ingesting things other than psilocybin, even if the packaging does not list them, Yockey said. 'If someone comes to the ER saying I have psilocybin exposure, one of the first things a doctor should do is test for it,' he added. This article was originally published on
CNN
21-04-2025
- Health
- CNN
Psilocybin use rising along with calls to poison control centers, study says
Unsupervised use of psilocybin, or 'magic mushrooms,' has accelerated among all age groups in the United States, but especially among adolescents and people 30 and older, a new study found. 'The prevalence of psilocybin use in 2023 rose dramatically over the prior five years since states began liberalizing policy in 2019,' said study coauthor Dr. Andrew Monte, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Use of psilocybin increased by 2.4% among 12th graders in 2023, an increase of 53% over five years, according to the study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. While the study only had official data through 2023, additional data being collected for 2024 is showing a continued rise, Monte said. Psilocybin use in 2023 among adults was higher than estimates for cocaine, illicit opioid use, methamphetamine or LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), the study found. Since 2019, these higher levels of psilocybin use reflected an increase of 188% among adults 30 and older and 44% among 18- to 29-year-olds. Adults with mental health or chronic pain conditions were more likely to use psilocybin, the study found. The trend is especially worrisome due to the corresponding rise of calls to poison control centers, especially among US adults 30 and older, according to the research. 'As these drugs are used more in the community, you will see more adverse events, because people are not using psilocybin in a controlled setting such as a clinical trial, which is the only scenario in which we have study data on benefits,' said Monte, who is also the chief scientific officer and medical director at the Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety in Denver. A few clinical trials have found psychedelics show promise in treating depression, anxiety, substance use, and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, said Dr. Petros Petridis, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. He was not involved in the study. 'These are powerful agents that can profoundly alter consciousness,' Petridis said via email. 'In clinical trials, their use is tightly regulated, with careful psychological screening, preparation, and integration afterward to ensure safety and adequate emotional processing. Outside of those guardrails, the risk for adverse psychological reactions, especially in younger users without adequate support, increases substantially.' Because psilocybin leads to hallucinations, people may become agitated and hurt themselves or others and end up in a hospital emergency department, Monte said. 'Psilocybin can cause your heart to race, so people with cardiovascular disease may be at increased risk of adverse cardiac events,' he said. 'These drugs also interact with medications such as antidepressants, so it's really important to talk to your doctor about potential dangers before you consider using psilocybin.' 'My major take-home messages is that people need to plan before they trip,' Monte said. 'You need a safe place and have somebody with you in case you have a bad reaction, which absolutely happens.' The downside of psychedelics The dangers of unsupervised use of psychedelics such as psilocybin should not be taken lightly, experts say. A study published in March found a link between bad psychedelic trips and a more than twofold increased risk of death within five years. The study found suicide to be the most common reason for an early death, along with unintentional drug poisoning, respiratory disease and cancer. How to get help Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world. About 1 in 20 people report ongoing difficulties after their psychedelic experience, Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of psychiatry and human ecology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, told CNN in a prior interview. He was not involved in the new research. 'A year later, they say, 'I had an experience that was so distressing to me that it messed up my ability to function, or alienated me from my family, or gave me post-traumatic stress disorder,'' Raison said. However, no study can definitively establish that increased mortality is due to a bad experience with a psychedelic, he said: 'It could well be that the things that drove the person to have a bad psychedelic experience are the things that then also make them more likely to die.' A significant jump in use The new study analyzed data from five national drug surveys: the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the Survey of Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs, Monitoring the Future, the National Poison Data System and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Psilocybin use was relatively stable before the drug was first decriminalized in Denver in May 2019, according to the study. However, lifetime use of psilocybin increased from 10% to 12.1% of the US population between 2019 and 2023, moving from 25 million people to 31.3 million people as state and local governments have removed restrictions, according to the study. 'Oregon and Colorado have legalized psilocybin, some jurisdictions have decriminalized possession, and other states have or are looking at approving medical use of psilocybin,' Monte said. While the current study did not look at rationales for psilocybin use, a national survey done by Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety does provides insights, he said. 'We know a majority of use is still for recreational purposes, not medical purposes, even when people do have mental health conditions,' Monte said. 'That's worrisome due to the potential negative reactions when not used as directed by a doctor.' Much more study needs to be done before the full impact of recreational psilocybin use will be known, Raison said. 'We don't know what percentage of people would report benefit and what percentage would report harm and how severe that harm will be,' he said. 'My guess, based on data to date, is that the increased use reflected in the study will produce both benefit and harm. I also suspect the harms would be reduced if psilocybin were administered in a safe setting, with appropriate supervision.'
NBC News
21-04-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Psilocybin use is on the rise as public perception changes, report shows
More Americans are using psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. A report published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found psilocybin use has been rising since 2019, after remaining relatively stable for years. 'That tells us something is changing,' said Kari Rockhill, an epidemiologist and assistant statistical scientist at Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety in Denver, who worked on the report. In adults, a changing public perception of psychedelics is likely at the forefront of this shift — combined with decriminalization of psilocybin across several U.S. jurisdictions. 'We saw a similar phenomenon with cannabis when it started to be legalized across the country. There is probably a stigma around this that is going down,' Rockhill said. In 2019, the city of Denver voted to decriminalize the Schedule I drug, allowing people to grow and gift, but not sell, psychedelic mushrooms that contain psilocybin. Oregon followed suit in 2020, and decriminalization expanded to the entire state of Colorado in 2022. Books like Michael Pollan's 'How to Change Your Mind' have also helped change public perception of psychedelics, said Dr. Todd Korthuis, an internist and addiction medicine specialist at Oregon Health and Science University. 'This is not surprising at all given the developments over the last 10 years,' said Korthuis, who is also co-director of the Open Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus, which conducts research on psychedelics. Andrew Yockey, an assistant professor of public health at the University of Mississippi, added that an unregulated online market, mounting research that suggests psilocybin could be used as a treatment for mental health conditions, and a rise in microdosing also likely contributed to the increase in use. Indeed, the researchers found that psilocybin use was highest among adults with mental health or chronic pain conditions. Rockhill and her team analyzed five national databases that included self-reported data on psilocybin use, calls made to 55 poison control centers, and medical records to get a picture of how many people used psilocybin across the nation from 2014 through 2023. Overall, use of the drug remains relatively low: In 2023 — the most recent year for which data was available — just about 2% of adults in the U.S. said they had taken psilocybin in the past year. Twelve percent reported ever taking the drug, up from 10% in 2019, when rates began to increase. Among adults ages 18 to 29, past-year psilocybin use rose by 44%, to 2.1% in 2023; for adults ages 30 and up, use nearly tripled, to 1.8% in 2023. About 2.5% of 12th graders reported using psilocybin in the last year in 2023, a 53% increase from 2019. 'It is interesting to see the rise in adolescents,' Yockey said. 'I want to see where they are getting it from, why they are taking it.' The study also found that calls to poison control centers for psilocybin rose sharply over the study period, particularly among children ages 11 and under. In 2023, calls for this age group rose 723% from 2019, though the rates were still low, at less than one child per 100,000 people. For children 12 to 18, calls increased 317%, to just over two people per 100,000. Adults saw a 200% increase in calls, rising to a rate of less than half a person per 100,000. In addition, 1,550 people, including 1,192 adults, sought medical care because of psilocybin in 2023. From 2015 to 2021, there were just three cases involving medical care. The calls to poison control for the children under 11 in the report were almost certainly due to kids getting into psilocybin edibles that were not meant for them, Korthuis said. Although psilocybin alone has a relatively safe toxicology profile, meaning it's highly unlikely to cause life-threatening physical health problems, an unregulated market of edibles can lead to people ingesting things other than psilocybin, even if the packaging does not list them, Yockey said. 'If someone comes to the ER saying I have psilocybin exposure, one of the first things a doctor should do is test for it,' he added.
CNN
21-04-2025
- Health
- CNN
Psilocybin use rising along with calls to poison control centers, study says
Unsupervised use of psilocybin, or 'magic mushrooms,' has accelerated among all age groups in the United States, but especially among adolescents and people 30 and older, a new study found. 'The prevalence of psilocybin use in 2023 rose dramatically over the prior five years since states began liberalizing policy in 2019,' said study coauthor Dr. Andrew Monte, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Use of psilocybin increased by 2.4% among 12th graders in 2023, an increase of 53% over five years, according to the study published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. While the study only had official data through 2023, additional data being collected for 2024 is showing a continued rise, Monte said. Psilocybin use in 2023 among adults was higher than estimates for cocaine, illicit opioid use, methamphetamine or LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), the study found. Since 2019, these higher levels of psilocybin use reflected an increase of 188% among adults 30 and older and 44% among 18- to 29-year-olds. Adults with mental health or chronic pain conditions were more likely to use psilocybin, the study found. The trend is especially worrisome due to the corresponding rise of calls to poison control centers, especially among US adults 30 and older, according to the research. 'As these drugs are used more in the community, you will see more adverse events, because people are not using psilocybin in a controlled setting such as a clinical trial, which is the only scenario in which we have study data on benefits,' said Monte, who is also the chief scientific officer and medical director at the Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety in Denver. A few clinical trials have found psychedelics show promise in treating depression, anxiety, substance use, and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, said Dr. Petros Petridis, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. He was not involved in the study. 'These are powerful agents that can profoundly alter consciousness,' Petridis said via email. 'In clinical trials, their use is tightly regulated, with careful psychological screening, preparation, and integration afterward to ensure safety and adequate emotional processing. Outside of those guardrails, the risk for adverse psychological reactions, especially in younger users without adequate support, increases substantially.' Because psilocybin leads to hallucinations, people may become agitated and hurt themselves or others and end up in a hospital emergency department, Monte said. 'Psilocybin can cause your heart to race, so people with cardiovascular disease may be at increased risk of adverse cardiac events,' he said. 'These drugs also interact with medications such as antidepressants, so it's really important to talk to your doctor about potential dangers before you consider using psilocybin.' 'My major take-home messages is that people need to plan before they trip,' Monte said. 'You need a safe place and have somebody with you in case you have a bad reaction, which absolutely happens.' The downside of psychedelics The dangers of unsupervised use of psychedelics such as psilocybin should not be taken lightly, experts say. A study published in March found a link between bad psychedelic trips and a more than twofold increased risk of death within five years. The study found suicide to be the most common reason for an early death, along with unintentional drug poisoning, respiratory disease and cancer. How to get help Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world. About 1 in 20 people report ongoing difficulties after their psychedelic experience, Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of psychiatry and human ecology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, told CNN in a prior interview. He was not involved in the new research. 'A year later, they say, 'I had an experience that was so distressing to me that it messed up my ability to function, or alienated me from my family, or gave me post-traumatic stress disorder,'' Raison said. However, no study can definitively establish that increased mortality is due to a bad experience with a psychedelic, he said: 'It could well be that the things that drove the person to have a bad psychedelic experience are the things that then also make them more likely to die.' A significant jump in use The new study analyzed data from five national drug surveys: the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the Survey of Non-Medical Use of Prescription Drugs, Monitoring the Future, the National Poison Data System and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Psilocybin use was relatively stable before the drug was first decriminalized in Denver in May 2019, according to the study. However, lifetime use of psilocybin increased from 10% to 12.1% of the US population between 2019 and 2023, moving from 25 million people to 31.3 million people as state and local governments have removed restrictions, according to the study. 'Oregon and Colorado have legalized psilocybin, some jurisdictions have decriminalized possession, and other states have or are looking at approving medical use of psilocybin,' Monte said. While the current study did not look at rationales for psilocybin use, a national survey done by Rocky Mountain Poison & Drug Safety does provides insights, he said. 'We know a majority of use is still for recreational purposes, not medical purposes, even when people do have mental health conditions,' Monte said. 'That's worrisome due to the potential negative reactions when not used as directed by a doctor.' Much more study needs to be done before the full impact of recreational psilocybin use will be known, Raison said. 'We don't know what percentage of people would report benefit and what percentage would report harm and how severe that harm will be,' he said. 'My guess, based on data to date, is that the increased use reflected in the study will produce both benefit and harm. I also suspect the harms would be reduced if psilocybin were administered in a safe setting, with appropriate supervision.'
