Calls to poison control centers According to our evaluation of knowledge from 55 U.S. poison control centers between 2013 and 2022, calls from teens and young adults exposed to the hallucinogen psilocybin skyrocketed across the U.S. Calls increased after 2019, when psilocybin was decriminalized and legalized in several cities and states.
Psilocybin is a Compound present in “magic mushrooms””, a preferred recreational drug that decriminalized for the primary time of Denver, Colorado, in 2019. Decriminalization doesn’t mean that psilocybin is legal, nevertheless it does direct police to deal with other crimes. Denver was also the primary city to Legalize small amounts of marijuana in 2005 and continues to push for a change in drug policy.
Buying, possessing and even growing magic mushrooms is just legal in two states: Oregonwhich legalized psilocybin in 2020, and Coloradowhich followed in 2022.
we’re a Emergency medicine doctor And Epidemiologist. Our responsibilities include monitoring the health risks to the general public related to poisons and taking steps to forestall them. We are each concerned in regards to the increasing variety of calls to poison control centers related to psilocybin.
Why it’s important
When taken magic mushrooms, psilocybin induces a psychedelic experience that causes euphoria and changes within the perception of space and time.
Use of psilocybin may also cause psychosis, hallucinations, delusions and agitation. In the USA, psilocybin is used as Substances on List 1 under the Controlled Substances Actwhich suggests that it has no recognized medical use and high potential for abuse.
Our study shows a gentle increase in psilocybin exposure amongst adolescents starting in 2019. Some of those young people suffered serious health consequences.
This increase in calls got here just as Denver voters passed a ballot proposal that first city to decriminalize in May 2019.
Since then, several other cities, including Detroit, Washington, DC and Seattlehave also decriminalized psilocybin. Other cities and states are planning to pass similar laws.
The poison control center data we used for our study aren't broken down by state, so it's inconceivable to determine exactly where the calls got here from—and whether or not they got here from cities where magic mushrooms have been decriminalized or states where they've been legalized.
Our research results
During the 10-year study period National Poison Data System 4,055 psilocybin exposures were recorded amongst young people aged 13 to 25 years.
Between 2013 and 2018, before decriminalization in Denver, the variety of cases related to psilocybin has not modified significantly in all ages group. significant annual increase Among 13- to 18-year-olds, the rise in cases began similtaneously the primary decriminalization in 2019, and amongst 19- to 25-year-olds, it began in 2020.
Only two years later, psilocybin cases were reported to US poison control centers greater than tripled amongst adolescents and greater than doubled amongst young adults, in comparison with 2018, when the drug was generally illegal.
Most of the reported cases – 75.3% in adolescents and 72.1% in young adults – essential medical careincluding admission to a hospital or psychiatric facility. most typical effects These symptoms included hallucinations, delusions, restlessness, rapid heartbeat and confusion.
What other research is being carried out
Our results are consistent with a review of greater than 30 studies This confirms an analogous increase in acute cannabis poisoning amongst children and adolescents, starting after the legalization of marijuana in 1996.
We find this particularly concerning because in states which have legalized psilocybin and cities which have decriminalized it, people under the age of 21 usually are not allowed to make use of or purchase it, suggesting that young individuals are obtaining psilocybin illegally.
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