Perceived Risk of Trying Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in the United States from 2015 to 2019: Are Americans Assessing Lysergic Acid Diethylamide's Risk Profile More Favorably?

Background: Though lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) use is rising in the United States amid expanding research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, little scholarly work exists on whether perceived risk of trying LSD (prLSD) is changing or factors influencing prLSD among the general public. Therefore, we sought to investigate changes in prLSD from 2015 to 2019 and identify characteristics associated with prLSD among respondents to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). Methods: Using NDSUH data from 2015 to 2019, we investigated correlates of and temporal trends in prLSD, reporting results for the entire sample, as well under age 18 (<18) and age 18 and older (18+) subgroups. Orthogonal polynomial contrasts were used to evaluate trends across survey years. Multivariable models were constructed to identify factors associated with prLSD. Results: On multivariable modeling for respondents age 18+, lower prLSD had statistically significant associations with later survey year, personal LSD use, younger age, higher education level, male gender, identifying as a sexual minority, past year psychological distress, and other factors. Higher prLSD was associated with identifying as Black or Hispanic, past year suicide attempt, and having children in the home. Notable differences in the age <18 subgroup were no association between prLSD and identifying as Hispanic and male gender being associated with higher prLSD. From 2015 to 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%; ( p < 0.0001). Similar trends were observed in most subgroups that were analyzed. Conclusions: We observed differences in prLSD among subgroups, suggesting that factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, and personal history of LSD may be related to prLSD. Overall, Americans appear to be assessing LSD's risk profile more favorably in recent years, though most Americans still perceive great risk in trying LSD.