According to the poll, over a third of US voters know that psychedelics have valid medical benefits

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Just over a third of American voters recognize the fact that psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelics have valid medicinal benefits, according to a new poll by The Hill and HarrisX.

Between May 21 and 23, pollers asked 1,899 registered voters whether they believed that “psychedelic substances like ‘magic mushrooms’ have medicinal benefits or not”. A large majority of respondents (65 percent) answered no, but over a third (35 percent) said yes. The survey also asked respondents to indicate their age, political affiliation, gender, and several other key demographics.

Like many other drug reform polls, the Hill-HarrisX poll reports that younger and more liberal voters are more likely to recognize the healing powers of these drugs. A majority (53 percent) of 18-29 year olds agreed, but support among older respondents decreased. Men also recognized the therapeutic potential of psychedelics more often (41 percent) than women (30 percent).

Support for psychedelics was also stronger among the Democrats (43 percent), the political independents (41 percent) and the voters for Joe Biden (46 percent). On the flip side, less than a quarter of Republicans or Trump supporters said they believe mushrooms have medicinal benefits. A majority of respondents (52 percent) who live in large cities also said they knew about the medicinal value of mushrooms, compared with just 31 percent of those living in rural areas or 27 percent of suburban residents.

Although the majority of Americans still believe that psychedelics have no medicinal value, clinical research has proven otherwise. Recent research has shown that psilocybin can treat symptoms of depression and anxiety more effectively than traditional medicines. Other studies have found that LSD, psilocybin, and other hallucinogens can break addiction, encourage creative thinking, and help treat a variety of physical and mental ailments.

“What is on the table now is the prospect that psilocybin therapy could be an alternative to prescription antidepressants,” said Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, director of the Center for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, told Business Insider This shows that people with depression may consider psilocybin therapy earlier. “

Over the past two years, Oregon has legalized the use of psilocybin-assisted therapy, and many individual cities have decriminalized the possession of natural psychedelics. Lawmakers and activists in many other states are fighting for broader decriminalization and legalization laws, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has already legalized the use of ketamine for treatment-resistant depression. The FDA is now sponsoring studies that could lead to the full legalization of both psilocybin and MDMA-based therapy in the next few years.

As the legalization effort begins and more research studies are carried out, it is likely that the general public will be better informed about the medical potential of psychedelics. A similar pattern has emerged in surveys on cannabis over the past decade.

In 2012, before any state legalized adult cannabis, only about half of all Americans supported cannabis legalization. But today, with medical marijuana legal in most states and legal adult use in over a dozen, recent polls show that 69 to 91 percent of Americans are ready to end the state cannabis ban.