Addictive behaviors
June 1, 2026
Sebastian Ehmann, Nathan M. Hager, Paul S. Regier et al.
Opioid use disorder (OUD) remains a major public health crisis in the United States, with mental health disorders substantially increasing risk severity. Emerging evidence suggests psychedelics may relate to reduced OUD risk. This exploratory study examined associations between lifetime psychedelic use and OUD severity and tested whether these associations varied by mental health impairment....
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
November 9, 2025
James M Zech, Jérémie Richard, Grant Jones
Psychedelic-assisted interventions are emerging as potential treatments for substance use disorders, including alcohol use disorder (AUD). While recent randomized controlled trials suggest efficacy for certain psychedelics and related compounds in treating AUD, the impact of naturalistic psychedelic use on problematic alcohol consumption remains underexplored. This study examines associations...
PsyArXiv
November 2, 2025
Sebastian Ehmann, Nathan M. Hager, Paul S. Regier et al.
preprint
Lifetime Psychedelic Use and Opioid Use Disorder Severity: Substance-Use Pattern Specific and Mental Health–Dependent Associations in a National Survey
Journal of Psychiatric Research
November 1, 2025
Felipe Herrmann, Grant Jones, Daniel M Low et al.
Although research shows that psychedelic use may lead to improvement in mental health and well-being, the underlying changes in psychological predictors associated with these improvements remain unclear. 161 participants were recruited in a prospective online survey assessing naturalistic psychedelic use. We used lasso regression to assess how 19 distinct changes in psychological variables...
PLoS One
May 7, 2025
Grant Jones
2 citations
Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a debilitating health condition that is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in the U.S. While preliminary studies have demonstrated that psilocybin is associated with lowered odds of OUD, current research in this domain suffers from a lack of investigation into the impact of race/ethnicity on this association. Objective: To assess the...
Journal of Affective Disorders
February 1, 2025
Grant Jones, Matthew X. Lowe, Sandeep M. Nayak et al.
12 citations
Psilocybin (a psychoactive compound found in "magic mushrooms" or "shrooms") has been gaining increased attention in research and popular culture as a number of clinical and observational studies have demonstrated that it may have potential for improving mental wellbeing. Relatedly, there has been a substantial uptick in naturalistic (e.g., real-world, non-clinical) psilocybin use in the United...
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
2025
James M Zech, David B. Yaden, Grant Jones
9 citations
Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) is an increasingly prevalent disorder affecting millions of Americans each year. Psychedelic compounds have recently been investigated for their therapeutic potential in treating substance use disorders, yet no prior work has examined the relationship between naturalistic use of specific psychedelic compounds and rates of disordered cannabis use. Using a nationally...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
June 24, 2024
Grant Jones, Jocelyn A. Ricard, Matthew K. Nock
5 citations
Background Hypertension is a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly for racial and ethnic minorities who face higher rates of hypertension and worse health-related outcomes. Recent research has reported on protective associations between classic psychedelics and hypertension; however, there is a need to explore how race and ethnicity may moderate such associations....
JMIR Formative Research
March 4, 2024
Grant Jones, Felipe Herrmann, Adam Bear et al.
2 citations
This study demonstrates that changes in mindfulness predict subsequent changes in well-being in a data set including individuals who recently engaged in psychedelic use.
Addictive behaviors reports
December 1, 2023
Grant Jones, Felipe Herrmann, Erica Wang
6 citations
Hallucinogen dependence and abuse are DSM-IV diagnoses that are associated with significant morbidity, yet the specific hallucinogens that are most strongly linked to dependence and abuse are understudied. We used recent data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2015-2020) and multivariable logistic regression to test the relationships that lifetime use of seven individual...
JMIR Formative Research
November 24, 2023
Grant Jones, Franchesca Castro-Ramirez, Maha Al-Suwaidi et al.
Race-based anxiety is a critical health issue within the Black community. Mindfulness interventions hold promise for treating race-based anxiety in Black Americans; however, there are many barriers that prevent Black Americans from using these treatments, such as low cultural relevance, significant time burdens, and excessive costs. This study is a replication and extension of findings that...
Journal of Medical Internet Research
October 12, 2023
Grant Jones, Franchesca Castro-Ramirez, Taylor Mcguire et al.
3 citations
This study replicates and extends findings that "healing attempt"-a brief digital music-based mindfulness intervention-represents a feasible and potentially effective intervention for race-based anxiety in the Black community.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
August 24, 2023
Grant Jones, Patrick Mair, Maha Al-Suwaidi et al.
10 citations
Introduction Psilocybin use has been linked to lowered odds of crime-related outcomes across a host of observational studies. No studies have investigated how these associations may differ among those of different races and ethnicities. Methods Using a nationally-representative sample of 734,061 adults from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2002–2020), we investigated whether race and...
JMIR Formative Research
August 16, 2023
Grant Jones, Felipe Herrmann, Matthew K. Nock
7 citations
Race-based anxiety is a substantial health issue for the Black community. Although mindfulness interventions have demonstrated efficacy for alleviating anxiety, three central barriers prevent Black Americans from accessing existing mindfulness treatments: high costs, excessive time commitments, and limited cultural relevance. There is a need for novel mindfulness interventions for the Black...
Scientific Reports
February 11, 2023
Grant Jones, Joshua Lipson, Erica Wang
2 citations
Abstract Impairment in social functioning is a common source of morbidity across many mental health disorders, yet there is a dearth of effective and easily implemented interventions to support social functioning. MDMA/ecstasy and classic psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, peyote, mescaline) represent two potential treatments for impairments in social functioning, as evidence suggests these...
Scientific Reports
December 19, 2022
Grant Jones, Diego Arias, Matthew K. Nock
18 citations
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst adolescents and decades of research have failed to curb suicide rates within this population. There is thus a need to better understand factors that correlate with adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). MDMA/ecstasy and classic psychedelics represent two areas for exploration, as use of these substances has been associated with...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
October 31, 2022
Grant Jones
28 citations
Background: Psychedelics are receiving renewed attention within Western medicine as they represent potential treatments for many difficult-to-treat mental health disorders. However, psychedelic science is limited in its focus and inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities. Hence, this study examines whether race and ethnicity moderate the associations that naturalistic...
Scientific Reports
October 10, 2022
Grant Jones, Matthew K. Nock
46 citations
Psychedelic compounds have been linked to salutary mental health outcomes in both naturalistic and clinical settings; however, current research on psychedelics suffers from a lack of inclusion and focus on racial and ethnic minorities. Thus, the goal of our study was to assess whether race and ethnicity moderate the associations that naturalistic lifetime MDMA...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
October 1, 2022
Grant Jones, Jocelyn A. Ricard, Peter S. Hendricks et al.
7 citations
INTRODUCTION: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA/"ecstasy") is an empathogen that can give rise to increased pleasure and empathy and may effectively treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Although prior research has demonstrated associations between ecstasy use and favorable mental health outcomes, the associations between ecstasy and physical health have largely been unexplored. Thus, the...
Scientific Reports
June 22, 2022
Grant Jones, Joshua Lipson, Matthew K. Nock
31 citations
Abstract Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable death worldwide, but none of the established treatments aimed at smoking cessation work for a majority of smokers. As such, there is an urgent need for interventions capable of reliably treating nicotine addiction. The use of classic psychedelics has been associated with lower odds of many forms of substance dependence. Here we...
Scientific Reports
April 7, 2022
Grant Jones, Jocelyn A. Ricard, Joshua Lipson et al.
56 citations
Abstract Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a major source of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. and there is a pressing need to identify additional treatments for the disorder. Classic psychedelics (psilocybin, peyote, mescaline, LSD) have been linked to the alleviation of various substance use disorders and may hold promise as potential treatments for OUD. The aim of this study was to assess...
Scientific Reports
February 16, 2022
Grant Jones, Matthew K. Nock
44 citations
Abstract Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) is a significant public health problem associated with elevated morbidity and mortality within the United States. Current behavioral treatments have limited efficacy and there are currently no FDA approved pharmacological treatments for CUD. Classic psychedelics might be associated with lowered odds of substance misuse and may effectively treat various forms...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
2022
Grant Jones, Matthew K. Nock
60 citations
Background: Suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and rates within the United States have risen over the past two decades. Hence, there is a critical need for novel tools to treat suicidal ideation and related mental health conditions. 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)/ecstasy and classic psychedelics may be two such tools. Aims: The aim of this study was to assess...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
2022
Grant Jones, Matthew K. Nock
40 citations
Background: Depression is a major mental health issue worldwide, with high rates of chronicity and non-recovery associated with the condition. Existing treatments such as antidepressant medication and psychological treatments have modest effectiveness, suggesting the need for alternative interventions. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between MDMA...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
2022
Grant Jones, Matthew K. Nock
30 citations
Background: The United States boasts the largest prison population in the world, conferring significant direct and indirect costs (e.g. lost wages for the incarcerated, increased morbidity/mortality, etc.) to society. Recidivism rates are high for the imprisoned and most interventions to reduce criminality are minimally effective. Thus, in addition to the need for criminal justice reform, there...