PSA's Psychedelic State(s) of The Union: February 24th, 2026

By Jack Gorsline

According to a newly released, nationally representative report by the RAND Corporation, nearly one-quarter of U.S. adults now support the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms. 

These findings describe a rapidly transforming psychedelics policy landscape in the U.S. and gradual shift of public sentiment  largely driven by the potential for medical and therapeutic benefits rather than a legislative push for personal use of psychedelic substances. . 

The findings come from the 2025 RAND Psychedelics Survey (RPS), which polled 10,122 U.S. adults between September 9 and October 1, 2025, using the probability-based NORC AmeriSpeak panel. Previous public opinion research often grouped various psychedelic compounds under a single umbrella term, obscuring how Americans feel about specific drugs. The 2025 RPS distinguishes itself as the first probability-based survey to ask the public about individual psychedelic substances, explicitly delineating psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA. 

The results indicate that public support for legalizing psilocybin currently mirrors the approval ratings cannabis held in the mid-1990s, shortly before the first state-level medical marijuana laws were enacted and public opinion began to shift.. Despite federal prohibition classifying these substances as Schedule I drugs, three states – Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico – have already passed legislation legalizing supervised psilocybin use, and approximately 30 localities have deprioritized the enforcement of certain state psychedelics laws. RAND researchers emphasize, however, that public support for psychedelics is highly nuanced, strongly tied to clinical oversight, and heavily dependent on the specific substance in question.

The Data on Legality, Demographics, and Lifetime Use

Despite growing momentum in legislative circles, psychedelics still lag significantly behind cannabis in terms of broad public acceptance. The 2025 RPS reveals that while an estimated 64.6 percent of Americans support the legal use of marijuana, only 23.1 percent back the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms. The data also illustrates a stark dividing line in how the U.S. public views naturally occurring psychedelics compared to synthetic alternatives. 

For example, support for the legal use of LSD stands at just 9.9 percent, and support for MDMA sits at 9.2 percent. A little more than three-quarters of U.S. adults indicated that the use of both LSD and MDMA should remain strictly illegal, and these synthetic psychedelics hovered just slightly above the 8.0 percent approval rating for cocaine, a non-psychedelic substance included in the survey for baseline comparison.

Digging deeper into the demographics of those who favor legalizing psilocybin, the RAND researchers uncovered significant variations across different segments of the U.S. population. Support for the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms is notably higher among men, at 28.7 percent, compared to 17.8 percent among women. Generational divides are also clearly evident in the polling data. Support for legal psilocybin use is strongest among younger people in the U.S. , with 31.1 percent of adults ages 18 to 29 and 32.1 percent of adults ages 30 to 44 endorsing legalization. 

This support steadily declines among older age brackets, dropping to 23.4 percent for adults ages 45 to 59, and bottoming out at just 11.1 percent for those age 60 and older. Furthermore, socioeconomic and marital factors play a distinct role in shaping public opinion on the issue. A greater percentage of employed individuals (26.6 percent) support the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms compared to those who are not employed (16.3 percent), and endorsement is notably higher among unmarried adults (27.1 percent) than among their married counterparts (19.7 percent).

Personal familiarity with the substances in question also serves as a strong driver of public opinion. The 2025 RPS estimates that the lifetime prevalence of psilocybin use among U.S. adults sits at 17.5 percent. Among the subset of U.S. adults who report having actually used psilocybin mushrooms in their lifetime, a commanding 61.6 percent support its legalization. This highlights a strong correlation between firsthand experience and policy preference, though it still falls short of the cannabis benchmark, where 80 percent of lifetime marijuana users support legalizing cannabis.

Nuance in Public Opinion and Acceptable Reasons for Use

The RAND report strongly stresses that simple "yes or no" questions regarding legalization often mask critically important variations in exactly how people in the U.S. want these powerful substances regulated. When participants were asked a more nuanced, multiple-choice question regarding the specific reasons adults should be allowed to use psychedelics, addressing a mental or physical health condition emerged as the most widely endorsed justification across the board. 

Using psychedelics to treat a health condition was supported by 29.7 percent of adults for psilocybin, 22.7 percent for LSD, and 18.4 percent for MDMA. Conversely, using these substances "for any reason" – which indicates support for broad personal or recreational access – received staggeringly low backing. Only 11.3 percent of U.S. adults support allowing the use of psilocybin mushrooms for any reason, while just 7.2 percent support the use of LSD for any reason, and 6.8 percent support the use of MDMA for any reason. Using psychedelics "for fun or pleasure" had a similarly low endorsement of  12.3 percent for psilocybin, 8.0 percent for MDMA, and 7.2 percent for LSD.

This strong preference for therapeutic application over cognitive freedoms creates a complex web of crossover appeal, where even U.S. respondents who generally oppose legalization are open to medical exemptions. According to the report, among the subset of respondents who stated that the use of psilocybin mushrooms should be illegal in general, only 61.6 percent held the hardline stance that all uses of psilocybin should be illegal when presented with specific options. Within this group of overarching opponents, an estimated 16.6 percent said that psilocybin use should be allowed to address a mental or physical health condition. Furthermore, 12.2 percent of those who opposed general legalization admitted they were unsure about specific allowed reasons for use.

The data also reveals that sweeping assumptions cannot be made about the advocates of legalization. Among people in the U.S. who explicitly support the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms in the primary questioning, only 42.3 percent believe adults should be able to use them for any reason. This directly undercuts the notion that advocates for psychedelics are universally pushing for a free-market, adult-use model akin to the modern cannabis industry. The survey also explored niche uses, finding that traditional Indigenous practices garnered some targeted support, with 21.9 percent of adults approving of psilocybin use in this context, alongside 11.7 percent for LSD and 8.7 percent for MDMA. Ultimately, an estimated 39.1 percent of all U.S. adults selected the strict "None, all uses should be illegal" option for psilocybin, with that strict prohibitionist stance jumping to 55.4 percent for MDMA and 52.9 percent for LSD.

Supply Preferences, Policy Frameworks, and the Road Ahead

The public's overwhelming preference for therapeutic applications of psychedelics dictates exactly how people in the U.S.believe these drugs should be accessed and distributed if they are legalized. For all three substances surveyed, the highest estimated level of public support among various supply options is for access within a supervised medical facility. Nearly half of U.S. adults (48.5 percent) believe that if psilocybin were legally available, it should be administered at a medical facility under the supervision of a health care provider. Support for medical facility administration remains the top choice for the synthetic substances as well, garnering 40.6 percent support for LSD and 38.1 percent support for MDMA. Other highly supported supply methods are similarly restricted to health paradigms, including obtaining the substances via a prescription to be taken at home (40.5 percent for psilocybin) or using them at a state-approved retreat or wellness center under supervision (36.6 percent for psilocybin).

In stark contrast, commercial and unrestricted supply models remain highly unpopular. Retail-style dispensaries – similar to how cannabis is currently sold in many states – received only 28.1 percent support for psilocybin, 17.6 percent for MDMA, and 17.5 percent for LSD. Government-run stores saw even less enthusiasm, supported by just 22.3 percent of respondents for psilocybin. Furthermore, allowing adults to grow and forage for their own psilocybin mushrooms to use and gift to others – a policy known as "grow and give" – was endorsed by a mere 22.5 percent of U.S. adults, with a commanding 56.9 percent actively opposing it.

These public preferences align remarkably well with the recent legislative shifts occurring across the country, though some disconnects remain. States such as Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico have already passed laws creating state-licensed frameworks for supervised psilocybin use, directly mirroring the public's desire for clinical, structured access. Oregon's Measure 109, passed in 2020, allows adults to use psilocybin at state-licensed facilities, and New Mexico's Senate Bill 219 will establish a medical psilocybin program for patients with specific qualifying conditions like PTSD and treatment-resistant depression by December 2027. However, RAND researchers note that the public's low support for the "grow and give" option stands in contrast to Colorado's Proposition 122, which explicitly legalized the personal possession, growth, and sharing of natural psychedelics alongside its supervised access program.

While the RAND researchers acknowledge that psilocybin's current 23 percent approval rating mirrors the trajectory of marijuana between 1978 and 1995, they caution against assuming that psychedelics will inevitably follow the exact same commercial trajectory. The report notes that public support for legalizing marijuana rose dramatically in tandem with broader, time-specific increases in socially liberal attitudes, such as support for same-sex marriage, between 1995 and 2016.

If that period reflected a unique cultural moment, the same underlying sociopolitical forces might not propel psychedelics in the near term. Ultimately, the findings suggest that the future of psychedelics policy in the United States will likely be shaped by a highly cautious, health-oriented approach, as public support remains inextricably tied to clinical treatment rather than unrestricted recreational access.

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Until next time,

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