Providing evidence about the benefits and safety of psilocybin increases public support for psilocybin-related policies. In an online experiment with 804 participants, those who received information about psilocybin's benefits showed greater overall policy support and stronger beliefs that psilocybin is both beneficial and safe. Those who received safety information also showed greater policy support and stronger beliefs about safety, but not about benefits. The effects were small (Cohen's d between 0.10 and 0.44). The authors suggest that communicating benefits and safety can shape attitudes, but note that further research is needed on how long these effects last.
In an online survey experiment with 804 participants, providing evidence about the benefits of psilocybin increased overall support for psilocybin policies (effect size d = .11) and strengthened beliefs that psilocybin is both beneficial (d = .44) and safe (d = .26). Providing evidence about safety also increased overall policy support (d = .10) and strengthened beliefs that psilocybin is safe (d = .28), but did not change beliefs about its benefits. The findings suggest that communicating the benefits and safety of psilocybin can shift public attitudes and policy support, though the durability of these effects remains unknown.