Prevalence of Use and Policy Preferences
Veteran issues in the United States often figure prominently in policy debates and media coverage surrounding psychedelic substances, such as psilocybin mushrooms and ibogaine. This is partially driven by the need to improve access and efficacy of treatments for mental health conditions, especially conditions (such as posttraumatic stress disorder) that are more common among veterans than nonveterans.
In this report, the authors present new data from the 2025 RAND Psychedelics Survey. The report focuses on the use of specific psychedelic substances and policy preferences among U.S. veterans and compares them with nonveterans. The report also includes data on veterans’ willingness to try these substances and their attitudes about U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policies on certain psychedelics.
Key Takeaways
- Nearly one in four veterans supported the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms. The rates for LSD and MDMA were 11 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
- Veterans’ support for the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA was generally similar to nonveterans’ support. However, veterans were slightly more likely to support the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms and LSD than nonveterans of a similar age, gender, race, and ethnicity.
- Approximately 4.8 million veterans had used psilocybin, LSD, or MDMA in their lifetime.
- Veterans were slightly more likely to have used LSD in their lifetime than nonveterans.
- Less than 1 percent of veterans had used ibogaine or iboga in their lifetime. About 5 percent of veterans who had never used ibogaine or iboga were willing to try it.
- Nearly half of veterans were unsure whether a veteran would risk losing VA benefits if they spoke to their VA doctors about the use of psilocybin mushrooms (48 percent) or MDMA (46 percent).
- About half of veterans supported VA providing or paying for psilocybin-assisted therapy (54 percent) or MDMA-assisted therapy (45 percent) if approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
An estimated 4.8 million U.S. veterans have used psilocybin mushrooms, LSD or MDMA in their lifetime, according to new RAND research examining veterans’ psychedelic use and attitudes.
The report, the third in a series from the 2025 RAND Psychedelics Survey, also found that U.S. veterans drew clear distinctions between substances when it comes to policy. Although nearly a quarter of U.S. veterans supported the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms, support dropped substantially for the legal use of both LSD (11%) and MDMA (9%).
“Despite recent federal government investments in psychedelics research, VA policy around psychedelics remains unclear and we found that about half of veterans were unsure about discussing them with a VA doctor,” said Michelle Priest, lead author of the report and research project specialist at RAND. “That uncertainty matters, especially as veteran issues are prominently featured in policy conversations surrounding psychedelics, both at the federal and state levels.”
Unlike its approach to cannabis, VA has not published a directive encouraging veterans to discuss their use of psychedelics with providers or clarifying that disclosure would not affect benefits. About 48% of veterans were unsure whether discussing psilocybin mushroom use with a VA provider could jeopardize their benefits, and 46% were unsure about discussing MDMA use, according to the survey.
The study also found that about half of veterans supported the VA providing or paying for psilocybin-assisted therapy (54%) or MDMA-assisted therapy (45%) if those therapies are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Although veterans’ support for the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms, LSD and MDMA was generally similar to nonveterans’ support, veterans were slightly more likely than demographically similar nonveterans to support the legal use of both psilocybin mushrooms and LSD.
In terms of psychedelics use, veterans were slightly more likely to have used LSD in their lifetime. Use of psychedelic substances was rare among veterans in the past year, with prevalence below 3% for every substance examined.
Fewer than 1% of veterans had ever used ibogaine, a substance highlighted in the recent White House executive order on psychedelic therapies, although about 5% of veterans who had never tried it were willing to do so.
“Despite the increasing interest in the role of psychedelics in the treatment of veterans’ health, representative data on the prevalence of use of psychedelics and policy preferences among the U.S. veteran population are limited,” said Beau Kilmer, co-author of the report and co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. “This report helps fill this gap and offers ideas for future research on this topic.”
The 2025 RAND Psychedelics Survey is a probability-based, nationally representative survey of more than 10,000 U.S. adults conducted in September 2025. Findings in this report are based on responses from 1,339 veterans. The research was conducted through the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. Other authors of the report, “U.S. Veterans and Psychedelics: Prevalence of Use and Policy Preferences,” are Terry L. Schell and Ben Senator.
