Psychedelic drugs have been known to cause "bad trips," but new research suggests there is no link between recreational use of these drugs and mental health problems.
The recent findings suggest taking psychedelic drugs such as magic mushrooms and LSD does not lead to "psychological distress, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts," Sage Publications reported.
To make their findings a team of researchers used data from the U.S .National Health Survey to look at the link between psychedelics and mental problems in 135,000 randomly chosen people, 19,000 of which had used the drugs.
"Drug experts consistently rank LSD and psilocybin mushrooms as much less harmful to the individual user and to society compared to alcohol and other controlled substances," said neuroscientist Teri Krebs of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
The researchers found the use of these types of drugs could actually lead to fewer mental health problems.
"Many people report deeply meaningful experiences and lasting beneficial effects from using psychedelics," Krebs said.
The researchers noted that due to the design of the study they can't exclude the possibility that these drugs have certain negative effects on mental health in some individuals, but these consequences are most likely balanced out by the positive effects seen in other groups of people.
"With these robust findings, it is difficult to see how prohibition of psychedelics can be justified as a public health measure," said clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen.
"Concerns have been raised that the ban on use of psychedelics is a violation of the human rights to belief and spiritual practice, full development of the personality, and free-time and play," Krebs added.
The findings were published in recent editions of the journals Nature and Lancet Psychiatry.
