A new nationally representative study confirms what public health researchers have long suspected: psilocybin use is closely tied to polysubstance use across the United States. Researchers drawing on 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data found that approximately 2.78% of Americans aged 12 and older reported past-year psilocybin use. That figure represents millions of people, and the substance use patterns behind it carry significant public health implications.

Who Reports Using Psilocybin?

Researchers at the University of Mississippi published the findings in AJPM Focus. Males, young adults aged 18 to 25, non-Hispanic White individuals, and people in higher income households reported the highest rates of use. Young adults aged 18 to 25 were 51% more likely to report past-year use than adolescents aged 12 to 17. People aged 65 and over were 94% less likely to report use, pointing to a clear generational divide in exposure and attitudes.

Income also played a notable role. People with household incomes above $75,000 were 60% more likely to report use than those earning under $20,000.

Polysubstance Use and Psilocybin: A Strong Connection

The strongest finding in the study concerns the link between psilocybin and other substances. People who used marijuana in the past year were 12.1 times more likely to have also used psilocybin than those who did not. That figure alone shows that psilocybin use sits firmly within broader polysubstance use patterns rather than apart from them.

Other associations were equally notable:

• People who used DMT in the past year were more than 8 times as likely to report psilocybin use
• People who used LSD were more than 7 times as likely
• Ketamine users were more than 5 times as likely
• Alcohol users were 2.49 times as likely
• Cocaine users were 2.28 times as likely
• Tobacco users were 34% more likely

The study authors highlight the importance of viewing psilocybin within the broader landscape of polysubstance use, particularly when assessing health risks or designing prevention strategies. Psilocybin use is not an isolated behaviour. It is woven into wider substance use trajectories in ways the data make hard to ignore.

A Shifting Policy Landscape and Its Effect on Substance Use Patterns

Context shapes these numbers. In 2019, Denver became the first US city to decriminalise psilocybin mushrooms. Oregon and Colorado followed with statewide measures establishing regulated access frameworks. Growing media coverage of clinical trials exploring psilocybin’s therapeutic potential changed how many people perceive its risks and availability.

National figures show psychedelic use has climbed since the early 2000s, with stronger growth among young adults. A 2025 RAND Corporation survey put past-year psilocybin use at approximately 4.3% among US adults, equivalent to roughly 11 million people. That figure runs higher than the NSDUH estimate, though both surveys point in the same direction.

One important caveat: 2024 was the first year the NSDUH included questions specifically about psilocybin. Researchers cannot yet compare trends over time. That makes this data all the more significant as a baseline.

Polysubstance Use Among Young People

Young adulthood brings greater social exploration, wider peer networks, and more frequent exposure to environments where multiple substances circulate. Researchers identify these as key factors in psychedelic use initiation. The data bear this out. Young adults aged 18 to 25 reported the strongest rates of psilocybin use in the sample, and those rates appeared alongside alcohol, cannabis, and other substance use at much higher rates than in the general population.

For young people especially, psilocybin use tends to emerge as part of wider polysubstance use rather than as a standalone behaviour. Addressing it effectively requires understanding that broader context.

Why Ongoing Surveillance of Substance Use Patterns Matters

The NSDUH excludes certain populations, including incarcerated individuals, unsheltered homeless people, and active-duty military personnel, who may carry different substance use patterns. The survey also captures no detail on frequency, dose, or context. The growing practice of microdosing, for instance, goes entirely unrecorded in these figures.

Despite those gaps, this research gives the clearest national picture of psilocybin use currently available. Policymakers, educators, and public health professionals need this kind of data to track emerging trends and act on them. As attitudes toward psychedelics continue to shift and legal frameworks change across US states, ongoing national surveillance will remain essential.

The core finding is clear. Psilocybin use is rising, it concentrates in specific demographic groups, and it almost always occurs within broader polysubstance use. That pattern deserves serious attention.

Source: dbrecoveryresources