‍UC Berkely’s Survey Reveals Broad Support for Psychedelic Therapy Combined with Negative Public Perceptions 

UC Berkeley launched the Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) in 2020, just two months after Oregon voted to authorize legal psilocybin sales and use. As policy initiatives like Oregon’s expand nationwide, BCSP founders wanted to support public education and clinical research surrounding psychedelics’ effects on mental health. Since then, BCSCP started a facilitator training program, an online psychedelics course, and an objective journalism initiative to increase awareness. Along with these efforts, co-founder Michael Pollan and executive director Imran Khan wanted to track their impact on society’s psychedelic perceptions. 

Pollan, Khan, and the team wanted to know if psychedelic news, research, and education efforts like BCSPs have penetrated mainstream culture and changed voters’ minds for better or worse. Steered by Project lead Taylor West, BCSP conducted a 1,500-person survey to find out. The results illuminated vital insights about the psychedelic industry’s path forward while predicting pitfalls along the way to legalization. As a mushroom and psilocybin testing laboratory, we were excited to explore the findings. 

BCSP’s executive director, Imran Khan, said:

“This is the first clear picture we have of what the American public think and feel about psychedelics…”

The Study 

A week before the largest psychedelic conference in history, BSCP conducted the first survey in a new and ongoing longitudinal public opinion research project. Researchers randomly selected 1,500 registered U.S. voters. Respondents were split nearly evenly between males and females, with varying ethnic groups. Most were white, followed by African American and Latinos. Ages ranged from 18 to 75+

The Highlights 

• Over 60% of American registered voters favor legalizing regulated therapeutic access to psychedelics.
• Around 35% expressed strong support for the idea.  
• An overwhelming 78% of voters backed the idea of facilitating research on psychedelic substances. 
• About 49% supported eliminating criminal penalties for personal use and possession. 

These statistics reveal a growing acceptance and openness toward exploring the potential benefits of psychedelics in therapeutic settings and bolstering scientific research. But these answers don’t necessarily reflect the full spectrum of opinions that respondents exposed later in the survey. More on that below. 

Psychedelic Awareness

The first step toward building an enduring psychedelic movement is ensuring people are aware of it. Many inner bubble psychonauts assume the public at large knows about these substances, but BSCP’s survey was the first to test that theory. Here’s what respondents had to say. 

• 47% heard a “great deal” or at least “a little” about psychedelics.
• 53% had not heard a thing. 

Forty-seven percent is no small feat, but this question acknowledges that psychedelic educators still need to reach more than half the U.S. population.