Record Number of Adults Now Using Hallucinogens, Study Finds

As hallucinogens and marijuana continues to become more widely destigmatized and decriminalized in the United States, use among adults reached an all-time record high in 2022. This is according to a Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, an annual survey that monitors trends, behaviors, and attitudes in legal and illicit drug use.

The study, which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, has been ongoing since 1975. Participants are surveyed from senior year of high school through the age of 30, and then every subsequent five years. A total of 28,500 participants are surveyed every year, with the oldest now being in their 60s.

When it comes to hallucinogens, 8 percent of adults aged 19 to 30 reported using substances including LSD, MDMA, mescaline, peyote, psilocybin, and PCP the previous year, up from 5 percent in 2017 and 3 percent a decade prior in 2012. And while that is definitely a significant jump, hallucinogen use among adults 35 to 50 years doubled from 2 percent in 2021 to 4 percent in 2022. Use in that age group was no greater than 1 percent in both 2017 and 2012.

Related: Diplo Explains What It Was Like to Run L.A. Marathon on LSD

Marijuana use is also on the rise, reaching the highest levels ever reported by the study. Among adults 19 to 30, 44 percent now say they are marijuana users, compared to 35 percent in 2017 and 28 percent in 2012. And a whopping 28 percent of adults aged 35 to 50 use marijuana; an increase from 25 percent the year before, 17 percent in 2017, and 13 percent in 2012.

Vaping marijuana was likewise reported in 21 percent of adults 19 to 30 years old in 2022 and in 9 percent of aged 35 to 50.

"Substance use is not limited to teens and young adults, and these data help us understand how people use drugs across the lifespan," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA, said in a statement. "Understanding these trends is a first step, and it is crucial that research continues to illuminate how substance use and related health impacts may change over time. We want to ensure that people from the earliest to the latest stages in adulthood are equipped with up-to-date knowledge to help inform decisions related to substance use."