Team publishes largest-ever dataset on real-world psychedelic support interactions

by Fireside Project

edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Robert Egan

Lisa Lock

Scientific Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process

Robert Egan

Senior Editor

Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process Editors' notes

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

peer-reviewed publication

proofread

The GIST Add to Preferred Sources

"The Fireside Database: Large-Scale Evidence from 25,419 Psychedelic Support Interactions," published in Science Advances, provides researchers and policymakers with an empirical window into psychedelic use and support outside clinical settings.

The study analyzes 25,419 interactions with Fireside Project's Psychedelic Support Line conducted by 220 trained peer supporters between April 2021 and February 2026, along with 2,777 post-interaction satisfaction surveys. To the authors' knowledge, it is the largest dataset of psychedelic support interactions ever assembled.

Most psychedelic experiences take place outside clinical trials—in homes, at festivals, in ceremonies and other community settings—yet systematic evidence about these experiences remains limited. The Fireside Database captures structured information about substances used, distress, social setting, presenting concerns, support techniques and other factors, as well as demographics when voluntarily disclosed. It also includes thousands of open-ended survey responses that provide a qualitative dimension often absent from large surveys of naturalistic psychedelic use.

"We've spent more than five years building this resource because the vast majority of psychedelic use is happening in a world that researchers have had very little ability to see," said Joshua White, founder and executive director of Fireside Project and a co-author of the study. "We want researchers to use these data to ask better questions about what makes psychedelic experiences safer, more supportive and potentially more healing, and what puts people at greater risk."

Distress depended more on timing than substance

Psilocybin was the most commonly reported substance, appearing in 59.9% of substance-coded interactions. Cannabis accounted for 12.8% and generated the highest pooled distress rate, although the authors found this was largely explained by cannabis users being more likely to contact Fireside while actively intoxicated; within comparable call types, distress rates did not differ significantly among major substances.

Whether someone sought help during or after an experience was more predictive of distress than which substance they reported, suggesting implications for crisis-support and harm-reduction training across multiple drug categories.

Forty-three interactions were classified as reports of facilitator abuse, with reports disproportionately associated with ceremonial settings and plant medicines. This is a quantitative signal of harms occurring in unregulated settings that warrants further study. Fireside did not independently investigate or verify individual reports.

Research potential and limits

The dataset's structure enables researchers to investigate "supporter effects" (whether individual differences among peer supporters predict caller outcomes), potentially informing how psychedelic therapists, facilitators and harm-reduction workers are selected and trained.

The authors emphasize that the database represents people who chose to contact a support line, not a representative sample of all psychedelic or cannabis users. Accordingly, its distress rates should not be interpreted as estimates of population-level drug risk.

"Clinical trials have taught us an enormous amount about psychedelics under controlled conditions, but they are only a small fraction of how these substances are actually being used," said Felix Schoeller, Ph.D., lead author. "The goal of this resource is to make the real-world landscape more scientifically tractable, from epidemiology and safety monitoring to the study of what effective psychological support actually looks like."

The de-identified interaction and survey data, along with analysis code used to reproduce the paper's figures and statistics, are being made available for research use. The authors envision applications spanning psychedelic epidemiology, public health policy, qualitative and computational research, practitioner training, supervision and quality assurance.

Publication details

Felix Schoeller, The Fireside Database: Large-scale evidence from 25,419 psychedelic support interactions, Science Advances (2026). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aeg4737. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aeg4737

Journal information: Science Advances

Key medical concepts

Emotional supportCannabisPsilocybin

Clinical categories

Psychology & Mental healthPsychiatry Provided by Fireside Project Who's behind this story?

Lisa Lock

BA art history, MA material culture. Former museum editor, paramedic, and transplant coordinator. Editing for Science X since 2021. Full profile →

Robert Egan

Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile →

Citation: Team publishes largest-ever dataset on real-world psychedelic support interactions (2026, October 30) retrieved 30 October 2026 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-team-publishes-largest-dataset-real.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.