Exploring Public Sentiments of Psychedelics Versus Other Substances: A Reddit-Based Natural Language Processing Study
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs May 30, 2025 Brandon Biba, Brian O’shea 1 citation
Analyses of Reddit discussions using Google's cloud-based Natural Language Processing (NLP) show that illicit substances such as heroin and methamphetamine are associated with highly negative general sentiments, whereas psychedelics like Psilocybin, LSD, and Ayahuasca generally evoke neutral to slightly positive sentiments. The findings suggest that online public sentiment toward psychedelics may be growing in acceptance of their therapeutic potential. Limitations include potential selection bias from the Reddit sample and challenges in accurately interpreting nuanced language using NLP.