Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2013
Sean Leneghan
6 citations
Ecstasy (MDMA) has attracted widespread attention with its association as a "recreational substance" that is concentrated in club and rave settings. This paper outlines a phenomenologically grounded ethnographic study of the experiences of ecstasy users in the Sydney, Australia, area. I espouse phenomenology as a framework for describing and understanding these experiences. A number of excerpts...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2013
Grzegorz R Juszczak, Artur H Swiergiel
Recently, there are important changes in recreational drug use. The aim of the present study was to analyse reports published on a recreational web site by drug users who ingested seeds of plants belonging to the Convolvulaceae family and to compare them with available medical case reports. We have also included reports describing the effects induced by "druids fantasy," which is a new drug...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
November 1, 2012
Michael Lyvers, Molly Meester
97 citations
Psychedelic drugs have long been known to be capable of inducing mystical or transcendental experiences. However, given the common "recreational" nature of much present-day psychedelic use, with typical doses tending to be lower than those commonly taken in the 1960s, the extent to which illicit use of psychedelics today is associated with mystical experiences is not known. Furthermore the mild...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 1, 2012
Ede Frecska, Csaba E. Móré, András Vargha et al.
88 citations
Studying the effect of psychedelic substances on expression of creativity is a challenging problem. Our primary objective was to study the psychometric measures of creativity after a series of ayahuasca ceremonies at a time when the acute effects have subsided. The secondary objective was to investigate how entoptic phenomena emerge during expression of creativity. Forty individuals who were...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 1, 2012
Mitchell B. Liester, James I. Prickett
78 citations
Ayahuasca is a medicinal plant mixture utilized by indigenous peoples throughout the Amazon River basin for healing purposes. The "vine of the soul" or "vine of death," as it is known in South America, contains a combination of monoamine oxidase inhibitors and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). When ingested together, these medicines produce profound alterations in consciousness. Increasingly,...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 1, 2012
Rachel Harris, Lee Gurel
69 citations
Eighty-one subjects who used ayahuasca at least once in North America answered a lengthy set of open-ended questions and completed the 81-item After the Spiritual Experience Questionnaire. An additional 50 ayahuasca users were interviewed in person. The data for this study represent ayahuasca experience based on more than 2,267 ceremonies. A comparison group of 46 people attending a Catholic...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 1, 2012
James A. Wilcox
19 citations
This is a retrospective examination of former users of alpha-methyltryptamine (AMT). A scale of questions was given to subjects who were familiar with the effects of AMT and the outcome was analyzed. Most subjects agreed that AMT had strong hallucinogenic qualities. The most common unwanted effects included anxiety, nausea and moderately severe dysphoria. Several subjects reported significant...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 1, 2011
Levente Móró, Katalin Simon, Imre Bárd et al.
138 citations
Psychoactive drug use shows great diversity, but due to a disproportionate focus on problematic drug use, predominant nonproblematic drug use remains an understudied phenomenon. Historic and anecdotal evidence shows that natural sources of "psychedelic" drugs (e.g., mescaline and psilocybin) have been used in religious and spiritual settings for centuries, as well as for psychological...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 1, 2011
Anette Kjellgren, Christophe Soussan
52 citations
The psychoactive substance 4-HO-MET (4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine) with psychedelic qualities is one of many legal so-called Internet drugs. The aim of this qualitative study was to establish an understanding of what characterizes its recreational use. Very little is known about the effects of this substance. Twenty-five anonymous Swedish experience reports (from persons aged 18-30...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
July 1, 2011
Lwendo S. Moonzwe, Jean J. Schensul, Kristin M. Kostick
21 citations
This article examines the role of Ecstasy (MDMA or 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) as a drug used for self-medication and coping with both short- and long-term negative life situations. We show that urban youth who do not have a specific diagnosed mental illness are more likely than those who have been diagnosed and have received treatment to use Ecstasy to cope with both situational stress...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 28, 2011
Beatriz Caiuby Labate
32 citations
In 2010, the Brazilian Government agency responsible for drug-related issues formulated official Resolutions that categorized the consumption of ayahuasca by pregnant women and children in the Santo Daime and União do Vegetal ayahuasca-based religions as an "exercise of parental rights." Although ayahuasca groups do enjoy a relative degree of social legitimacy and formal legal recognition in...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2011
Charlotte Walsh
126 citations
This article investigates the symbiotic relationship between drugs and the Internet, focusing (though not exclusively) on psychedelics. Programming on psychedelics in Silicon Valley from the 1960s to date is detailed, as are the twinned conceptualizations of drugs as a technology and technology as a drug. The correlation between drugs, the Internet, and consumerism is explored: the Internet is...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2011
Brian C Kelly
39 citations
During recent years, there has been increasing interest in "legal highs" among youth and young adults. Salvia divinorum is a legally available hallucinogenic plant, primarily utilized in smokable form, that produces a brief but intense hallucinogenic experience for the user. Data are presented from an ethnographic project to provide a qualitative profile of salvia use among young adults. Most...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2011
Donald R Wesson
22 citations
The 1960s were a time of social upheaval, wars, vibrant creativity and missed opportunity. Mainstream culture and a psychedelic drug-using counterculture shared a belief in "better living through chemistry'," but they disagreed about the particular chemistry. The Vietnam war and the cold war with the Soviet Union, racial discrimination, and gender roles fueled political activism. "Yes we can"...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2011
Radmila Lorencova
14 citations
This study focuses on measuring the spirituality of alcohol and marijuana users, using the new and exclusively Czech measuring tool, the Prague Spiritual Questionnaire (PSQ). The data from 155 respondents shows that users of both marijuana and alcohol scored significantly higher in the mysticism dimension of spirituality than those who only drank alcohol. People who mentioned that the specified...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2011
Robin Rodd, Arelis Sumabila
7 citations
Most Orinocoan ethnic groups, including the Cuiva and the Piaroa, use yopo, a hallucinogenic snuff derived from the seeds of the Anadenanthera peregrina tree. This study contrasts Piaroa and Cuiva attitudes toward and uses of yopo in light of ongoing processes of social change. We do not believe that these sociocultural forces will lead to a phasing out of yopo in Piaroa and Cuiva life....
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
December 1, 2010
Frederick R Dannaway
24 citations
This paper seeks to emphasize what may be the most primary mode of altering consciousness in the ancient world: namely, the burning of substances for inhalation in enclosed areas. While there is abundant literature on archaic uses of entheogenic plants, the literature on psychoactive incenses is quite deficient. From the tents of nomadic tribes to the small meditation rooms of Taoist adepts,...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
December 1, 2010
Kevin Feeney
18 citations
In 1968 R. Gordon Wasson first proposed his groundbreaking theory identifying Soma, the hallucinogenic sacrament of the Vedas, as the Amanita muscaria mushroom. While Wasson's theory has garnered acclaim, it is not without its faults. One omission in Wasson's theory is his failure to explain how pressing and filtering Soma, as described in the Rig Veda, supports his theory of Soma's identity....
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
December 1, 2010
Gene Ching
"The Acid Diaries: A Psychonaut's Guide to the History and Use of LSD." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 42(4), pp. 513–514
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
September 1, 2010
Pearl P Nyi, Emily P Lai, Diana Y Lee et al.
16 citations
An Internet-based survey of Salvia divinorum ("salvia") users was conducted to identify correlates surrounding its use. Salvia-knowledgeable persons were recruited via "social networking Internet websites" (n = 23) where notices were posted on recreational salvia group message boards (n = 69). Data collection included demographics, use circumstances, experiences, and age (current and at first...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
September 2010
Alecia Dager Schweinsburg, Brian C Schweinsburg, Krista Lisdahl Medina et al.
Some neurocognitive recovery occurs within a month of abstinence from heavy marijuana use, yet functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has revealed altered activation among recent and abstinent adult users. We compared fMRI response during a spatial working memory (SWM) task between adolescent marijuana users with brief and sustained durations of abstinence. Participants were 13 recent...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
June 1, 2010
Mindfulness training modifies cognitive, affective, and physiological mechanisms implicated in alcohol dependence: results of a randomized controlled pilot trial.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 2010
Beth M Anderson, Matthew Rizzo, Robert I Block et al.
In the United States, one in six teenagers has driven under the influence of marijuana. Driving under the influence of marijuana and alcohol is equally prevalent, despite the fact that marijuana use is less common than alcohol use. Much of the research examining the effects of marijuana on driving performance was conducted in the 1970s and led to equivocal findings. During that time, few...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
December 1, 2009
Anette Kjellgren, Anders Eriksson, Torsten Norlander
97 citations
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew used by the indigenous populations of the Amazon. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into the experiences of western users of ayahuasca, as well as to ascertain the experienced meaning that participants felt by their participation. Twenty-five people from Northern Europe with experiences of group sessions with ayahuasca wrote anonymous...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
December 1, 2009
Katy A. Jones, Mark Blagrove, A. C. Parrott
41 citations
This study investigated the associations between chronic cannabis and Ecstasy/MDMA use and one objective and two subjective measure of creativity. Fifteen abstinent Ecstasy users, 15 abstinent cannabis users, and 15 nondrug-user controls, completed three measures of creativity: the Consequences behavioral test of creativity, self-assessed performance on the Consequences test, and Gough's Trait...