The Rise of Psilocybin Use in the United States: A Multisource Observational Study
Annals of Internal Medicine April 21, 2025 Karilynn M Rockhill, Joshua C. Black, Michael S. Ladka et al. 29 citations
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Karilynn M Rockhill
8 papers in the library · 57 citations · publishing 2024-2026
Papers
Polysubstance Use Profiles Among the General Adult Population, United States, 2022.
American Journal of Public Health May 1, 2025 Karilynn M Rockhill, Joshua C. Black, Janetta Iwanicki et al. 17 citations
In a 2022 nationally representative US survey of 15,800 adults, 20.9% reported using two or more drugs in the past year. Four distinct patterns emerged: medically guided use (11.5% of adults, 6.1% with substance use disorder), principal cannabis use (4.0%, 31.9% with disorder), self-guided nonmedical use (3.4%, 14.5% with disorder), and indiscriminate coexposures (2.1%, 58.9% with disorder). The findings reveal two previously unrecognized classes and indicate that many adults with polysubstance use have untreated substance use disorders. Prevention and treatment should be personalized to each person's specific drug-use profile.
Optimizing real-world benefit and risk of new psychedelic medications: the need for innovative postmarket surveillance
Nature Mental Health May 1, 2024 Joshua C. Black, Andrew A. Monte, Nabarun Dasgupta et al. 5 citations
As psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy nears FDA approval and broader use in the USA, current postmarket surveillance systems are ill-suited to monitor its real-world safety and effectiveness. Without a fit-for-purpose program, risks include misattributing adverse events to illicit psychedelics and failing to achieve equitable patient access. A successful surveillance mosaic should incorporate environmental, personal, and outcome domains to ensure safe, appropriate, and equitable care. The authors argue for intentionally designed data systems to proactively monitor utilization and inform reasonable limitations.
Psychedelic Trips: Travel Within the United States to Use Psychedelic Drugs After Legalization.
Annals of emergency medicine June 30, 2025 Joshua C. Black, Karilynn M Rockhill, Evelyn J Fox et al. 4 citations
About one-third of US adults who used psychedelics in the past year traveled out of state to do so, primarily to Colorado and Oregon, which have decriminalized natural psychedelics. Travelers were more likely than nontravelers to report anxiety or depression symptoms and to have visited an emergency department or urgent care for a psychedelic-related issue. They were also more likely to use psychedelics for medical symptoms, at healing centers, or at ceremonial sites. Emergency physicians in both legalized and nonlegal states should be aware that travel for psychedelic use is common and may carry risks of adverse outcomes.
Fusing Specialized Surveys of Rare Populations to Larger Surveys for Generalized Inference: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.
Journal of Medical Internet Research April 27, 2026 Karilynn M Rockhill, Elizabeth A Bemis, Nicole Schow et al. 2 citations
Combining a large representative survey with a smaller survey focused on psychedelic drugs can produce generalizable estimates of rare behaviors like drug use without adding burdensome questions to the big survey. Researchers used calibration weighting to transport estimates from a psychedelic-enriched survey (two waves, total over 4,300 adults) to a representative anchor survey (two waves, total over 57,000 adults). The method showed good internal consistency, with transport biases under 0.4 percentage points for demographics, health, and substance use. External validity improved for health and substance use estimates after fusion. Using the fused data, recreational use of psilocybin (92.9%), LSD (93.2%), and MDMA (93.3%) was far more common than medical use (30.9%, 26.4%, and 21.1%, respectively). This approach expands surveillance epidemiology for rare behaviors.
Prevalence and predictors of sexual and physical violence during psychedelic use in a US population-based study.
World Psychiatry June 1, 2026 Christina Chwyl, Michael S. Ladka, Joshua C. Black et al.
In a US population-based study, about 1 in 20 people who used psychedelics reported experiencing sexual or physical violence during their use. Younger age, female gender, and use of certain psychedelics like MDMA were associated with higher risk. The findings suggest that while most psychedelic experiences are safe, a minority involve violence, highlighting the need for harm reduction strategies.
Child and maternal health outcomes following antenatal exposure to classic psychedelic substances: a systematic review.
Research Square May 19, 2026 Sunjuri Sun, Claudia Hanson, Peter S. Hendricks et al.
The evidence on child and maternal outcomes after exposure to classic psychedelics during pregnancy is very sparse and of very low certainty. A systematic review of 42 studies, mostly case reports from high-income countries, found that LSD was the most commonly reported substance. Outcomes reported included spontaneous abortions (2 studies), stillbirth (1 study), neonatal mortality (16 studies), preterm birth (17 studies), birthweight (15 studies), and congenital malformations (26 studies). No maternal deaths were reported. Because of small sample sizes and varied study designs, no meta-analysis was possible. The authors conclude that methodologically rigorous research on psychedelic use during pregnancy is urgently needed.
Psychedelic Terminology Preference in the 2024 National Survey Investigating Hallucinogenic Trends (NSIHT).
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs March 16, 2026 Faith E Lyons, Karilynn M Rockhill, Evelyn J Fox et al.
Adults who used a psychedelic in the past year most prefer surveys that use specific substance names (e.g., psilocybin, ayahuasca) over umbrella terms. In a cross-sectional survey of 2,306 respondents, specific substance names received the highest preference (median rank 3; 24.3% ranked first), followed by "psychedelics" (median rank 3; 19.4%). Terms like "hallucinogen," "medicines," and "entheogens" ranked lower. Preferences were consistent across age, education, and experience levels. The findings offer recommendations for terminology in future survey development.