Recreational Recreational use of psychedelics has been common since the
psychedelic era of the mid-1960s and continues to feature at festivals and events such as
Burning Man. A June 2024 report by the
RAND Corporation indicated that psilocybin mushrooms are currently the most widely used psychedelic drug among U.S. adults. According to the RAND national survey, 3.1% of adults reported psilocybin use in the past year, while about 12% reported lifetime use. Similar lifetime prevalence was reported for
LSD, whereas
MDMA (ecstasy) showed lower lifetime use at 7.6%. Fewer than 1% of adults reported using any psychedelic in the past month. A nationwide survey of 11,299 adults in Germany, published in 2025, found that 5.0% of respondents reported lifetime psychedelic use, with 0.7% reporting use within the past six months. Approximately 3% of respondents had used LSD, LSD analogues, psilocybin, or related substances at least once in their lifetime, and 0.5% had done so within the past six months. Lifetime prevalence of medium-to-high dosing (3.9%) was higher than microdosing (2.7%). Usage patterns varied by sociodemographic characteristics, including sex, age, residence, income, and marital status.
Traditional , province of
Pastaza, Ecuador A number of frequently mentioned or traditional psychedelics such as
ayahuasca (which contains
DMT),
San Pedro,
peyote, and
Peruvian torch (which all contain
mescaline),
psilocybin-containing mushrooms (which contain
psilocin and
psilocybin) and
Tabernanthe iboga (which contains the unique hallucinogen
ibogaine) all have a long and extensive history of
spiritual,
shamanic and traditional usage by
indigenous peoples in various world regions, particularly in Latin America, but also
Gabon, Africa in the case of iboga. Different countries and/or regions have come to be associated with traditional or spiritual use of particular psychedelics, such as the ancient and entheogenic use of psilocybe mushrooms by the native
Mazatec people of
Oaxaca, Mexico or the use of the ayahuasca brew in the
Amazon basin, particularly in Peru for spiritual and physical healing as well as for religious festivals. Peyote has also been used for several thousand years in the
Rio Grande Valley in North America by native tribes as an
entheogen. In the
Andean region of South America, the San Pedro cactus (
Echinopsis pachanoi) has a long history of use, possibly as a
traditional medicine. Archaeological studies have found evidence of use going back two thousand years, to
Moche culture,
Nazca culture, and
Chavín culture. Although authorities of the
Roman Catholic church attempted to suppress its use after the Spanish conquest, this failed, as shown by the Christian element in the common name "San Pedro cactus" –
Saint Peter cactus. The name has its origin in the belief that just as St Peter holds the keys to heaven, the effects of the cactus allow users "to reach heaven while still on earth." In 2022, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture declared the traditional use of San Pedro cactus in northern Peru as
cultural heritage. Although people of
Western culture have tended to use psychedelics for either
psychotherapeutic or
recreational reasons, most indigenous cultures, particularly in South America, have seemingly tended to use psychedelics for more
supernatural reasons such as
divination. This can often be related to "healing" or health as well but typically in the context of finding out what is wrong with the individual, such as using psychedelic states to "identify" a disease and/or its cause, locate lost objects, and identify a victim or even perpetrator of
sorcery. In some cultures and regions, even psychedelics themselves, such as ayahuasca and the psychedelic
lichen of eastern Ecuador (
Dictyonema huaorani) that supposedly contains both
5-MeO-DMT and psilocybin, have also been used by witches and sorcerers to conduct their
malicious magic, similarly to
nightshade deliriants like
brugmansia and
latua. As of 2021, psychedelic drugs are
controlled substances in most countries and psychedelic therapy is not legally available outside clinical trials. However, certain psychedelics like
psilocybin and
LSD are legally approved and/or used for treatment of conditions like
treatment-resistant depression under
special access programs in several countries including
Australia,
Switzerland,
Canada, and
Israel. The procedure for psychedelic therapy differs from that of therapies using conventional
psychiatric medications. While conventional medications are usually taken without supervision at least once daily, in contemporary psychedelic therapy the drug is administered in a single session (or sometimes up to three sessions) in a therapeutic context. The therapeutic team prepares the patient for the experience beforehand and helps them integrate insights from the drug experience afterwards. After ingesting the drug, the patient normally wears eyeshades and listens to music to facilitate focus on the psychedelic experience, with the therapeutic team interrupting only to provide reassurance if adverse effects such as anxiety or disorientation arise. and
anxiety and depression linked to
terminal illness. The United States
Food and Drug Administration has granted
breakthrough therapy status, which expedites the assessment of promising drug therapies for potential approval, to psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder. On the other hand, the
inverse placebo effect (or "knowcebo" effect) caused by
blinding failure may create an illusion of large
effect sizes with psychedelics.
Microdosing Psychedelic microdosing is the practice of using sub-threshold doses (
microdoses) of psychedelics in an attempt to improve creativity, boost physical energy level, emotional balance, increase performance on problems-solving tasks and to treat anxiety, depression and addiction. The practice of microdosing has become more widespread in the 21st century with more people claiming long-term benefits from the practice. A 2022 study recognized signatures of psilocybin microdosing in
natural language and concluded that low amount of psychedelics have potential for application, and ecological observation of microdosing schedules.
Dosing The table below provides doses of major serotonergic psychedelics as well as the
entactogen and mild psychedelic
MDMA ("ecstasy") that have been determined on the basis of
clinical studies. Other dosing schemes have also been reported. In the case of dried
psilocybin-containing mushrooms, microdoses are 0.1g to 0.3g and psychedelic doses are 1.0g to 3.5–5.0g. The preceding 1.0 to 5.0g range corresponds to psilocybin doses of about 10 to 50mg. Psilocybin and psilocin are similar in
potency and dose but psilocin is about 1.4-fold more active, this being related to the difference in
molecular weight between the two compounds. Some psychedelics, such as
2C-B,
2C-E,
2C-P,
methallylescaline (MAL), and
4-HO-DiPT among others, have been said to have steep
dose–response curves, meaning that the difference in dose between a light experience and an overwhelming disconnection from reality can be small. Conversely,
2C-D is described as having an unusually wide and gradual dose range.
Durations The typical durations of major psychedelics are as follows: •
Psilocybin oral: 5–6 hours •
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) inhaled: 5–20 minutes •
5-MeO-DMT inhaled: 5–20 minutes The shortest-acting oral psychedelics are the less-well-known
ASR-3001 (5-MeO-iPALT) (1.5–2.5 hours) and
4-HO-DiPT (2–3 hours), ==Effects==