Recent increasing interest in hallucinogens has underscored the critical gaps in our understanding of their adverse health effects and healthcare usage over time. The current study aimed to examine changes in emergency department (ED) visit rates involving hallucinogens, clinical outcomes of visits and the characteristics of individuals with ED visits involving hallucinogens. Repeated...
IntroductionThe use of psychedelics has increased in Canada in recent years. Although non-medical psilocybin use is prohibited under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, we previously documented the emergence of grey-market brick-and-mortar psilocybin retailers. This study examined changes in the number, composition, and geographic distribution of Canadian psilocybin retail stores between...
Hallucinogen use for both recreational and medical purposes is rapidly increasing globally, raising concerns about potential adverse effects. This study examined the risk of incident mania or bipolar disorder (BD) diagnosis associated with having an emergency department (ED) visit or hospitalization involving hallucinogens. We used a population-based cohort study of all individuals aged 14-65...
Serotonergic psychedelics and 3,4-methylendioxtmethamphetamine (MDMA) are promising treatments for mental disorders with a continuously evolving evidence base. We searched Pubmed/Scopus/clinical trial registries up to 08july2025 for double-blind randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing MDMA or serotonergic psychedelics in patients with mental disorders. Primary outcomes were change in...
Importance There is growing societal interest in and use of psilocybin. While psilocybin in Canada is illegal outside of clinical trials, there have been anecdotal reports of increasing access via unregulated online purchases and retail dispensaries. Objective To describe access to and the characteristics of psilocybin dispensaries across Canada and the health claims and warnings made on...
Background: Although clinical trials involving psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy have not observed short-term increases in the risk of death, limited data exist on mortality associated with hallucinogen use outside of controlled trial settings. We sought to determine whether people with an emergency department visit or hospital admission involving hallucinogen use were at increased risk of...
Interest in and use of hallucinogens has been increasing rapidly. While a frequently raised concern is that hallucinogens may be associated with an increased risk of psychosis, there are limited data on this association. To examine whether individuals with an emergency department (ED) visit involving hallucinogen use have an increased risk of developing a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD)....
Key Points Question Were the liberalization of medical cannabis and the legalization of nonmedical cannabis in Canada associated with changes in the population-attributable fraction of cannabis use disorders associated with schizophrenia? Findings In this population-based cohort study comprising 13 588 681 individuals, the population-attributable fraction of cannabis use disorder associated...