The psychedelic call: analysis of Australian Poisons Information Centre calls associated with classic psychedelics.
Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.) April 1, 2024 Rachael Wilkes, Darren M Roberts, Paul Liknaitzky et al. 8 citations
Calls to the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre about classical psychedelics more than doubled from 45 in 2014 to 105 in 2022, with 737 total calls over nine years. Most calls involved LSD (48%) or psilocybin (47%); 85% came from or were referred to a hospital. Co-ingestion with other substances occurred in 34% of calls. Among single-substance exposures, common clinical features were hallucinations (28%), gastrointestinal symptoms (22%), and tachycardia (18%); seizures occurred in 3%. The increase likely reflects growing community use, possibly driven by interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy trials. Toxicity was relatively high compared to clinical trial safety, which may be due to uncontrolled community use.