Psilocybin Poison Control Calls Spike in Teens, Young Adults

TOPLINE:

Calls to US poison centers related to psilocybin more than tripled among teens and more than doubled in young adults between 2019 and 2022, new research suggests. Investigators say the increase may be linked to decriminalization efforts in US cities and states.

METHODOLOGY:

• Investigators used data from the National Poison Data System (NPDS) to identify calls involving psilocybin between January 2013 and December 2022.
• Researchers focused on calls about individuals between the ages of 13 and 25 years.
• Exposures to psilocybin were examined based on demographics, clinical effects, level of care, and medical outcome.

TAKEAWAY:

• During the entire 10-year study period, 4055 psilocybin-involved exposures were reported in the age groups studied, with 66% being single-substance exposures and close to three quarters receiving medical attention.
• Psilocybin’s most common effects were hallucinations or delusions (37% of calls), agitation (28%), tachycardia (20%), and confusion (16%).
• The number of psilocybin-related calls to poison control centers for youth were largely unchanged from 2013 to 2018 but more than tripled among adolescents (aged 13-19 years) from 2019 and 2022 and more than doubled among young adults (aged 20-25 years) between 2018 and 2022 (P < .0001).

IN PRACTICE:

The increase in poison center calls coincides with psilocybin decriminalization efforts in several states in 2019, the authors noted. However, because those efforts only legalized use in adults aged 21 years and older, the rise among younger people is concerning, they added. “As psilocybin may become more widely available, it is important for parents to be aware that psilocybin is also available in edible forms such as chocolate and gummies. And we learned from our experience with edible cannabis that young children can mistake edibles for candy,” lead author Rita Farah, PharmD, MPH, PhD, Blue Ridge Poison Center epidemiologist, said in a news release.

SOURCE:

Christopher Holstege, MD, director of UVA Health’s Blue Ridge Poison Center and chief of the Division of Medical Toxicology at the UVA School of Medicine was the senior and corresponding author of the study. It was published online on February 26 in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

LIMITATIONS:

NPDS data are not designed to assess potential risk factors leading to increases in psilocybin-related cases. Moreover, because reports to poison control centers are voluntary and don’t capture all exposures, NPDS data likely under-represent cases of hallucinogenic mushroom poisonings. Lastly, NPDS data are susceptible to reporting and misclassification biases.

DISCLOSURES:

Funding source was not disclosed. The authors reported no relevant financial relationships.