Perceived risk of LSD use in the United States from 2015-2019: Are Americans assessing LSD’s risk profile more favorably?
Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p> <bold>Background:</bold> Most Americans perceive lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to be a high-risk drug, despite infrequent serious adverse events associated with its use. Though LSD use is rising in the United States, little has been written about whether perceived risk of LSD (prLSD) is changing or factors influencing prLSD. <bold>Methods:</bold> Using National Survey on Drug Use and Health data from 2015-2019, we investigated correlates of and temporal trends in prLSD. <bold>Results:</bold> On multivariable modeling for respondents 18 years of age and older, lower prLSD was associated in a statistically significant manner with later survey year, personal LSD use, younger age, higher education level, male gender, identifying as a sexual minority, having less self-influential religious beliefs, past year psychological distress, and other factors. Higher prLSD was associated in a statistically significant manner with identifying as Black or Hispanic, past year suicide attempt, and having children in the home. From 2015-2019, there was a statistically significant linear decreasing trend in proportion of respondents who perceived “great” risk in trying LSD [from 70.5% to 64.8%; ( <italic>p</italic> <0.0001)]. <bold>Conclusions:</bold> We observed important differences in prLSD among subgroups, suggesting factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, and personal history of LSD use could significantly influence prLSD. Our findings also indicate that Americans as a whole appear to be assessing LSD’s risk profile more favorably in recent years. </p>
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