The purpose of this study, conducted by Mr. James Sexton, research assistant, Mr. M. Scott Crawford, statistician, Mr. Noah Sweat, program coordinator, Ms. Emma Green, student assistant, and Dr. Peter Hendricks, associate professor, all from the Department of Health Behavior at University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, was to determine the prevalence of novel psychedelic use and the associations of novel psychedelic use with mental health outcomes.

The team estimated the prevalence of self-reported, write-in lifetime novel psychedelic use and evaluated the associations of novel psychedelic use with psychosocial characteristics, past month psychological distress, and past year suicidality among adult respondents pooled from years 2008–2016 of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Although lifetime novel psychedelic use was not associated with psychological distress or suicidality compared to no lifetime novel psychedelic use or classic psychedelic use, lifetime novel psychedelic use was associated with a greater likelihood of past year suicidal thinking and past year suicidal planning.

Novel psychedelics may differ from classic psychedelics in meaningful ways, though additional, directed research is needed.