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.
Among heterosexual Australians who use GHB, three patterns of use—occasional, regular, or daily—emerged. Four key themes were identified: escapism (managing mental health symptoms, enhancing confidence, facilitating sex, and alleviating body consciousness in women); diverse understandings of overdose, including intentional dosing to achieve unconsciousness and misconceptions about using stimulants to counter toxicity, with fear of police delaying help-seeking; stigma from both drug-using and non-using peers; and gendered harm reduction practices where women protect each other from harms, especially sexual violence. Findings point to gaps in public health education on overdose management and intentional risk-taking.