WIKIMEDIA, WILLIAM RAFTIIn population studies involving more than 100,000 US adults each, two independent teams have found no links between reported psychedelic drug use and negative mental health effects. Moreover, one of the groups found evidence to suggest that the drugs may help prevent suicide. Both teams’ results were published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in January.

“We are not claiming that no individuals have ever been harmed by psychedelics,” Matthew Johnson, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told Nature. “Anecdotes about acid casualties can be very powerful—but these instances are rare.”

Johnson and his colleagues assessed connections among the use of drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), MDMA, and psilocybin (the active ingredient of so-called magic mushrooms) with psychological distress and suicidality, finding evidence to suggest that “classic psychedelics may hold promise in the prevention of suicide,” the authors wrote...