Journal of Drug Issues
July 1, 2026
Haley M Hummel, Alexia N Obrochta, David C. R. Kerr et al.
Interest has grown in the effects of psilocybin on mental health, but little is known about its naturalistic use alongside alcohol and its relationship to depression and/or anxiety symptoms. Data from the nationally-representative 2024 National Survey Investigating Hallucinogenic Trends of participants who did ( n = 1234) or did not ( n = 1607) report past-year psilocybin and alcohol co-use...
Journal of Drug Issues
October 31, 2025
Blake Beaton
The emergence of microdosing introduced a novel approach to consuming classic psychedelic substances, such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and psilocybin mushrooms, in ways previously unconventional. Whereas traditional illicit substance use often seeks euphoric experiences, microdosing deliberately avoids such effects in favor of perceived self-enhancing benefits. Increasingly common in...
Journal of Drug Issues
April 26, 2025
Shayla Frinton, Jill O. Robinson
Motives are a highly influential force in substance use and vary depending on the substance or dose being used. Little research has compared motives across different doses of psilocybin. Psilocybin is often ingested in microdoses (0.1–0.4 g) or macrodoses (1 g+), each producing unique perceptual and mood effects. The current study examined whether motives for microdose and macrodose psilocybin...
Journal of Drug Issues
August 22, 2024
Heith Copes, Andrew Hochstetler, Jared Ragland et al.
3 citations
Our aim is to understand how those who use peyote in a naturalistic setting discuss it changed their lives and to what they attribute this change. To do this, we draw on data from a photo-ethnography of people who attended peyote ceremonies in rural Northcentral Alabama. Broadly, we found that participants discussed four core areas of change: reduced drug and alcohol misuse, new perspectives on...
Journal of Drug Issues
February 24, 2024
Frederick Vinckenbosch, Eef L. Theunissen, Agnieszka Stelling et al.
2 citations
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a popular recreational intoxicant and associated paraphernalia are increasingly being found at road traffic accident scenes in the Netherlands, suggesting that N 2 O intoxication causally contributes to the occurrence of a significant number of road traffic accidents. However, information on the pharmacodynamics- and kinetic characteristics of recreational N2O use is...
Journal of Drug Issues
August 30, 2019
Blake Beaton, Heith Copes, Megan Webb et al.
13 citations
Microdosing classic psychedelics (e.g., LSD [lysergic acid diethylamide] and psilocybin) is the practice of taking small amounts of these substances to bring about various positive life changes. Little is known about the subjective experiences and perceptions of those who engage in the practice. Accordingly, we use the sociology of accounts as a theoretical framework to explore the ways that...
Journal of Drug Issues
April 1, 2002
Susanna Prepeliczay
19 citations
The current study uses a qualitative methodology to investigate socio-cultural and psychological aspects involved in the use of LSD and comparable psychedelic substances. To date, 26 narrative interviews have been conducted with 12 female and 14 male users aged 19 to 53 years. The resulting data were subjected to content analysis in several thematic areas. Subjective reports of LSD use and...
Journal of Drug Issues
July 1, 1994
Richard Glen Boire
2 citations
The relationship between religious experience and alternative states of consciousness is as old as humanity itself. From time immemorial, visionary states have been entered through the ritual use of mind-changing substances. Despite the uncontrovertedfact that particular substances have been used for thousands of years to achieve religious experiences and insights, the federal drug laws fail to...
Journal of Drug Issues
1992
Charles S. Grob, Marlene Dobkin De Rios
49 citations
An analysis is made of adolescent hallucinogenic plant ingestion during initiation rituals among Australian Aboriginal males, Tshogana Tsonga females and among Chumash youth of Southern California. This use pattern contrasts with abusive patterns of drug abuse found among American adolescents. Findings indicate the existence of managed altered states of consciousness in the tribal societies...
Journal of Drug Issues
April 1, 1988
Elvin D. Smith
6 citations
Psychedelics are unique from other drugs in that the experiences they make available often demand an ethic of living. Ethics of a spiritual, therapeutic, or exploratory quality develop spontaneously because of the transcendental nature of the experience. Contemporary psychedelic drug taking went through a cycle which peaked in 1972 and declined about 1979. A slow resurgence of interest is...
Journal of Drug Issues
April 1, 1985
William H. Mcglothlin
2 citations
This paper presents an argument for research into the means of altering individual attitudes, values, and communication abilities in the direction of increased social empathy, which, in turn, would produce a more favorable environment for resolving differences and facilitate peaceful negotiations between individuals and nations. It is proposed that prior research with the drug, d-lysergic acid...
Journal of Drug Issues
April 1, 1979
Richard Bunce
Bad trips occurring during psychedelic drug use are analyzed as social rather than pharmacological products. Survey data from psychedelic users show a dramatic decline in bad trips over the period from the mid-1960s through 1975. Several explanations of this phenomenon are considered. Neither pharmacological explanations nor explanations depending on the growth of supportive subcultures of...
Journal of Drug Issues
July 1, 1977
Betty L. Phifer
2 citations
This article reviews the major research studies on the use of psychedelic drugs with terminal cancer patients. Present-day research is concentrated at the Maryland Psychiatric Center, where many of the early pilot studies were conducted. The conclusions of researchers such as Eric Kast, Sidney Cohen, Walter Pahnke, William Richards, and Albert Kurland indicate that controlled experimentation...
Journal of Drug Issues
July 1, 1977
Charles Winquist, David Winzenz
This essay examines the complementary functions of biopsychology and phenomenology in the interpretation of the religious significance of altered states of consciousness. Two physiological models of consciousness are examined and correlated with phenomenological theories of interpretation. The first model charts consciousness along a continuum of central nervous system arousal. The second model...
Journal of Drug Issues
July 1, 1977
Charles W. Swain
The concern of this article is to examine the conceptual framework within which drug-induced ecstasy has been compared to and/or used to interpret religious mysticism. No attempt is made to theorize about the “true” nature of either kind of experience; rather the author articulates the underlying assumptions and examines the social setting within which such discussions are carried on. The...