New Poll Shows Strong Support For Psychedelic Medicine
As over a half dozen state legislatures consider psychedelic medicine related bills this session, Breakthrough Bulletin conducted a survey of 1,704 voters nationally to gauge how the American public views the prospect of expanded access to psychedelic treatment [methodology].
The poll results show that voters broadly believe that lawmakers are not focused enough on mental health, a frustration that hits close to home as most voters know someone close to them who has experienced a serious mental health condition such as depression or anxiety. Our results also show strong voter support for both regulated access to psychedelic medicine and removing criminal penalties for possessing psychedelic substances.
Full Findings:
1. American Voters Are Proximate To Depression and Anxiety:
Most voters know a family member, close personal friend, or co-worker who has experienced depression (58%) or anxiety (55%).
Nearly half of voters reported personally experiencing symptoms of mental illness including anxiety (48%) and depression (44%).
2. Two-thirds of voters (68%) do not think that lawmakers in their state are focused enough on mental health. This is a view that’s shared across age, race, gender and educational attainment.
3. Voters support regulated access to psychedelic therapy, and that support remains robust even after exposure to opposition messages.
Most voters (60%) support changing the law to give adults access to regulated psychedelic treatment. Net support for expanded access for adults stands at +55 for Democrats; +36 for Independents; and + 18 for Republicans.
Support for regulated access to psychedelic medicine shoots up eight percentage points to 68% when voters are informed that evidence from leading medical institutions suggests that psychedelic medicine can be very effective in treating mental health conditions. Notably, Republican support jumps from 49% without context to 67% with context.
Even after exposure to opposition messaging—“these substances are known to cause people to hallucinate and enter an altered state of reality, which can be dangerous—both to the person receiving the treatment and those who administer it”—support for changing the law to give adults access to regulated psychedelic therapy held strong at 58%. Net support stood at +65 for Democrats; +30 for Independents; and + 5 for Republicans.
4. Most voters (58%) indicate that they would be more likely to support a legislator in their upcoming election if that legislator voted to pass a law to give adults over 21 access to regulated psilocybin treatment.
5. Most voters (53%) support changing federal law to remove criminal penalties for possession of psychedelic substances. Just 29% of voters oppose changing the law to remove criminal penalties. That means net support for removing criminal penalties at the federal level sits at +24 (D = +41; I + 29; R = +5).
