Psychedelic drugs ‘not linked to mental health problems’

TRONDHEIM, Norway, March 8 (UPI) — A new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has found there is no connection between psychedelic drugs and mental health issues.

The researchers analyzed data from the U.S. National Health Survey (2008-2011). The data includes over 130,000 randomly selected adults, including nearly 20,000 psychedelic drug users. The analysis showed people who use LSD or psilocybin mushrooms do not have an increased risk of mental health problems.

“In general, use of psychedelics does not appear to be particularly dangerous when compared to other activities considered to have acceptable safety,” the study says.

“Over 30 million US adults have tried psychedelics and there just is not much evidence of health problems,” said author and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen.

“Drug experts consistently rank LSD and psilocybin mushrooms as much less harmful to the individual user and to society compared to alcohol and other controlled substances,” said co-author and neuroscientist Teri Krebs.

The researchers claim it is more likely there is a link between improved mental health after using psychedelic drugs. However, they acknowledge certain people are at a higher risk for mental health problems in general and should be careful.

The study is published in the {link:Journal of Psychopharmacology: “http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/02/25/0269881114568039.abstract”,nw}.