More than a third of US voters (35%) say that psychedelic substances like “magic mushrooms” have a medical use, according to a new Hill-HarrisX poll released Tuesday.
A majority of American voters (65%) said such substances do not have medicinal uses.
There was a huge split in views on this issue across party lines and younger versus older voters.
Overall, 43% of Democrats and 41% of independents said psychedelic substances have a medical use, while only 23% of Republicans said the same.
And a majority of 18 to 29-year-olds (53%) said that psychedelics have a medical use, but majorities of voters 30 and older disagreed.
Research suggests that certain psychedelic substances, including magic mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA, could help treat symptoms depression and PTSD.
A study from Imperial College London scientists released in April, for example, found that psilocybin – the active compound in magic mushrooms – works about as well as a leading drug (escitalopram) to treat patients with moderate or severe major depressive disorder.
