Lysergic acid diethylamide

MONDAY, March 3, 2025 -- People who land in the ER after using hallucinogens are more than twice as likely to die in a handful of years, a new study says. Psychedelics users treated at a hospital are 2.6 times more likely than average folks to die from any cause within five years, researchers reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal . They specifically were more likely to die by suicide, cancer, lung disease and overdose compared to the general public, researchers found. “The findings highlight the need for ongoing investigation of and communication about both potential benefits and risks from hallucinogen use, particularly use outside clinical trial settings, given rapid increases in general population use,” senior researcher Dr. Marco Solmi , an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa, said in a news release. The use of hallucinogens like ketamine , psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca and ecstasy has rapidly increased since the mid-2010s, driven by clinical trials supporting their potential use in treating mental health and substance use disorders, researchers said in background notes. The percentage of U.S. residents reporting that they used hallucinogens more than doubled from nearly 4% in 2016 to almost 9% in 2021, researchers said. However, there isn’t much data on whether these drugs could increase a person’s risk of death when they’re used outside carefully controlled settings, researchers said. For the new study, researchers analyzed records on ER visits or hospitalizations among more than 11.4 million people 15 and older living in Ontario, Canada from 2006 to 2022. Overall, researchers found a 2.6-fold increased risk of early death among people who required treatment after using a hallucinogen. The risk was even higher -- 3.2-fold -- after researchers excluded people who had mental health or substance use disorders, results show. People who required care for hallucinogen use also had increased risks related to specific causes of death: These risks were higher than those of people who sought hospital care linked to alcohol consumption, but lower than people who needed care for opioid or stimulant use, researchers noted. Psychedelics might increase a person’s risk of suicide if they’re used outside a clinical setting researchers said. People taking hallucinogens also might be liable to take other drugs, increasing their risk of overdose. Further, people who needed hospital care for hallucinogen use were more likely to live in low-income neighborhoods, to have been homeless, to have chronic health problems, and to have been treated for a mental health or substance use disorder in the previous three years, researchers added. “Despite the growing popularity of hallucinogen use, we know surprisingly little about potential adverse effects of hallucinogens, such as mortality risks,” lead researcher Dr. Daniel Myran , research chair in social accountability at the University of Ottawa, said in a news release. “Contemporary clinical trials have not observed any short-term increase in risk of severe adverse events, including death, for trial participants,” Myran said. “However, these studies involve careful supervision and therapy for trial participants and exclude people at high risk of adverse outcomes.” Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

NEW YORK--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. (NASDAQ: MNMD), (the "Company" or "MindMed"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel product candidates to treat brain health disorders, today announced that it presented encore data from its Phase 2b study of MM120 (lysergide D-tartrate or LSD), the Company’s lead product candidate in generalized anxiety disorder, at the ACNP 2024 Congress taking place December 8 – 11 in Phoenix, AZ. Details of the presentations are as follows: Title : Functional and sexual disability, and quality of life after one dose of MM120 (lysergide) in adults with generalized anxiety disorder Format : Poster Presenter : Paula Jacobson, Ph.D., Executive Director, Clinical Development, MindMed Title : Rapid and durable response to a single dose of MM120 (lysergide) in generalized anxiety disorder: A dose-optimization study Format : Poster Presenter : Dan Karlin, M.D., M.A., Chief Medical Officer, MindMed Posters are available on MindMed’s Company website . About MindMed MindMed is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel product candidates to treat brain health disorders. Our mission is to be the global leader in the development and delivery of treatments that unlock new opportunities to improve patient outcomes. We are developing a pipeline of innovative product candidates, with and without acute perceptual effects, targeting neurotransmitter pathways that play key roles in brain health. MindMed trades on NASDAQ under the symbol MNMD. This press release is not sanctioned by ACNP.