Editor’s Take: A generation gap in psilocybin mushroom acceptance

The term “generation gap” emerged alongside the ascendance of the baby boomers in the 1960s, as their radical ideas about turning on, tuning in and dropping out scandalized their parents and grandparents. Now parents and grandparents themselves, baby boomers appear to have grown out of—or perhaps forgotten—the psychedelics that played such a key role in their rebellious youth.

Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in diverging attitudes about functional and medicinal mushrooms. While older generations are seeking out lion’s mane to keep their aging brains unscrambled, more and more millennials and Gen Zers are turning to psilocybin mushrooms to scramble them.

Based on consumer surveys published in the recently released NBJ Mushroom Market Report, the overall number of average U.S. consumers who use psilocybin mushrooms is still quite small, even as more and more cities and even states, decriminalize them and it seems like everyone you know is quietly microdosing. According to NBJ surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024, only 13% of the total population is currently consuming magic mushrooms.

But when we dig into the generational data, indications of an emerging psychedelic renaissance powered by young people start to reveal themselves. Nearly four times as many Gen Zers as baby boomers currently consume psilocybin, and more than twice as many Gen Zers as boomers say they would likely use magic mushrooms if they were legal.

Related:Monitor: Weed legalization informs natural and organic industry trends

Timothy Leary may be long gone, but Paul Stamets is right here right now, amassing hero-worshipping followers on Instagram.

Credit: Canva

Millennials and Gen Zers, bombarded with information on social media and not afraid to talk among themselves about psilocybin’s healing potential, are considerably more interested in and knowledgeable about psilocybin’s medical benefits than they were a year ago, NBJ surveys show. Baby boomers, on the other hand, are growing more and more dismissive of psilocybin’s power to expand their minds and their horizons. Last year, 41% of baby boomers expressed interest in learning more about psilocybin; this year, only 31% did.

Get those mushrooms off their lawns.

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