As more U.S. states and localities consider alternatives to prohibiting psychedelics for non-clinical use, policy debates will likely differ from cannabis legalization. While parallels exist—over two dozen jurisdictions have deprioritized enforcement, and Oregon and Colorado passed initiatives legalizing supervised psilocybin use—psychedelics produce different effects and have distinct market dynamics. Unlike cannabis, where frequent users drive consumption, about 60 percent of psychedelic use days come from those using five or fewer days per month. The author endorses the point that effective regulation of cannabis was hampered by limited federal-state coordination and warns that without federal action, psychedelics may follow a similar for-profit commercial model.
At least 8.4 million U.S. adults have microdosed psilocybin in their lifetime. People who used psilocybin within the past year are more likely to report microdosing the last time they used compared to those whose use was more than a year ago. However, about 15% of lifetime psilocybin users were unsure whether they microdosed the last time they used. The top motivations for self-reported microdosing are improving physical and mental health.