Trends in hallucinogen-associated emergency department visits and hospitalizations in California, USA, from 2016 to 2022

In a new paper published in the Society For The Study Of Addiction's journal, “Addiction”, Stanford researchers Nicolas Garel, Steven Tate, and Anna Lembke, along with Kristin Nash, Executive Director of the William G. Nash Foundation, analyzed hallucinogen-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations between 2016 and 2022 and found that they increased by more than 50% in that time span. 

We encourage you to read the full paper at this link, but in summary, the topline findings were:

1. Hallucinogen-associated emergency department visits and hospitalizations in California showed a large relative increase, 54% and 55% respectively, between 2016-2022. 

2. This is significant in the context of increased interest, policy changes and use -- in the past decade, almost tripling among young adults aged 19-30, and quadrupling among those aged 35–50. 

3. And, risks are under-researched and poorly communicated: though two new studies reported functional impairment or persistent adverse reactions in 9 and 23%, respectively, of psychedelic experiences.  

4. The current study underscores the need for more research on risks/harms, communication of those to the public, and broader and more rigorous tracking of the harms associated with these emerging substances on the individual and population level, especially as policy changes increase access.

5. To our knowledge, these population-level data are the first published epidemiologic evidence of rising public health harms related to hallucinogens in the U.S.

These findings were also reported on by “The Microdose” - an independent journalism newsletter supported by the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, in their weekly newsletter, “This Week In Psychedelics” which you can read at this link.