Cases of Psilocybin Exposure Rising

Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety (RMPDS) has developed data collection programs, the Sentinel Poison Center Program and the National Survey Investigating Hallucinogenic Trends (NSIHT), to assess the effects of psychedelic use throughout the U.S. Data show that U.S. health services are already seeing increased utilization of psychedelic substances. 

Colorado Natural Medicine applications for psychedelic healing centers opened on December 31, 2024. To monitor the benefits and risks this program and others will have on public health, RMPDS is capturing psychedelic drug exposures reported to U.S. state poison centers, as well as running the most comprehensive, U.S. based psychedelic behavioral survey. 

The primary purpose of the Sentinel Poison Center Program is to capture additional data not typically available through poison centers to quantify and monitor medical outcomes associated with psychedelic drug use reported to U.S. poison centers. This program will differentiate reason for use within state programs from reasons for unmonitored use outside state programs.  

This augmented approach to poison center data collection will capture additional contextual and clinical variables currently not captured by poison centers. Insights include the nature of the exposure to a psychedelic drug, the source of the drug, dosage, reason and setting of use, and where the exposure took place including who else may have been present. 

All these data are captured in a private and de-identified manner to protect patient privacy. The Sentinel Poison Center Program is currently collecting data on psychedelic safety in four states: Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada and Montana.

NSIHT is an additional assessment tool representing the largest ongoing U.S. based survey developed to understand the behaviors associated with psychedelic use. NSIHT captures use patterns of U.S. adults within the last year across 16 psychedelic substances. 

Our new data for 2024 highlights:

• The number of psilocybin calls to U.S. poison centers have increased over 317% in the past five years.
• The Colorado Poison Center was contacted 133 times between March and December 2024 for psychedelic exposures:
  • Psilocybin was by far the most common psychedelic drug involved in poison center calls, followed by MDMA (ecstasy), LSD and ketamine.
• The ages for poison center calls ranged from 10 months to 90 years old.
• The main reason adults gave for using psychedelics was for celebratory purposes (to have fun).
• Only two cases involved use of psilocybin for medical treatment, as would occur in a regulated setting similar to one that could be accessed via the new Colorado Natural Medicine regulated access program. This suggests that use within the Natural Medicine Healing Centers in the Colorado State Psychedelic program may be safer than unmonitored use.
• Insights from NSIHT:
  • Psychedelic Use Across the U.S.: 4.8% of adults had used a psychedelic drug within the past year (~12.5 million people). 
  • Psilocybin Use Across the U.S.: Psilocybin is the most frequently reported of the psychedelic drugs; 1.8% of adults (~4.9 million people) used it in the past year. 
  • Psilocybin Use Across the U.S.: Half of those who used psilocybin agreed with the statement that use of psilocybin improved their mental health.
  • Colorado Psilocybin Use: Higher proportion of adults using psilocybin, 3.1% (~140,000 Coloradans).
  • Reason for Psilocybin use across the U.S.: 58% Recreational, 43% Spiritual, 40% Medical

“These innovative Rocky Mountain Poison Center programs leverage the training of our toxicology experts and epidemiologists to collect data to differentiate risks of safe use from cases of misuse or unmonitored use,” Andrew Monte, MD, Chief Scientific Officer for RMPDS, said. “This helps us provide real data on the safety of Colorado’s Natural Medicine regulated access program & legalization for personal use." 

Rooted in Rocky Mountain’s decades of experience leading the monitoring of prescription drug safety, this aligns with our commitment to Saving Lives with Answers™. 

View the RMPDS Press Conference Here: RMPDS News Conf. on Psychedelics