Alternative healthcare practices using psychedelic “plant medicines,” such as ayahuasca, challenge current prohibition and mainstream healthcare frameworks. Despite the criminalization of ayahuasca's active component, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), Australian ayahuasca dietero networks have developed sophisticated healthcare systems with systematic assessment processes, safety mechanisms, and...
This article outlines a skeptical appraisal of Psymposia, a small but influential self-appointed psychedelics “watchdog” organization based in the United States of America, which played a significant role in blocking regulatory approval for MDMA as a treatment for PTSD in 2024. Contextualized close analysis of its “Power Trip” podcast series, which focused on sexual abuse in the psychedelic...
Psychedelics are being used globally in a variety of contexts, from recreational use to controlled clinical trials of therapeutic applications. Much of what is known about psychedelic user experiences comes from quantitative studies, while qualitative research is limited and has received comparatively less attention. Qualitative research, particularly personal narratives, can highlight the...
This article explores the processes that led to the inclusion of psychedelics under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, a cornerstone of international drug control. Drawing on archival records, we analyze the narratives and dynamics that shaped this decision. Despite limited scientific evidence of public health dangers, concerns about psychedelics were amplified by sensationalized...
Established by the 1971 United Nations (UN) Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the prohibition of the recreational use of psychedelics (lysergic acid diethylamide [LSD], psilocybin, N , N -dimethyltryptamine [ N , N -DMT], and mescaline) has two premises. First, recreational use poses a serious threat to public health because psychedelics are highly liable to addiction and abuse. Second,...
Institutionally supported studies on psychedelic use are growing tremendously in the United States, leading US mass media outlets to declare a psychedelic renaissance. Interestingly, national survey data also indicate increases in nonmedical psychedelic use. Largely due to the reinstatement of system-supported psychedelic experiments, the dominant cultural narrative of psychedelic use today...
Using autoethnography, this article considers conflict surrounding the psychedelic, mescaline cacti, San Pedro, and Peyote. We reflect on themes emergent in the lead authors’ lived experiences with growing, researching and working with mescaline cacti; Indigenous culture, psychopharmacotherapy research, psychedelic markets and ecology. These themes are considered relative to varied San Pedro...
Background The use of psychedelics is on the rise worldwide as more people are experimenting, self-medicating or seeking benefits from these substances. Aims This study explores the use values ascribed to classic psychedelics by 40 users in Finland – a country that scores high in welfare and happiness but has faced an increase in mental health problems and has adapted austerity policies in the...
Background: There is limited research on the provision of harm reduction services to people who use psychedelics. Little is known about provision of care to people consuming psychedelics outside of clinical trials. Methods: We investigated how people who used psychedelics discussed their preferences for care (or “trip sitting”) on two online forums: The Shroomery and DMT Nexus. A thematic...
Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are compounds designed to mimic the effects of existing recreational drugs (classical psychoactive substances [CPS]), while eluding established legal frameworks. Little is known about their effects and potential harms, rendering the increasing number of NPS a challenge to policy makers and researchers alike. Quantitative studies on the motives underlying NPS...
In this article I propose that current research addressing the mediating role of “context” in youth illicit drug use can be complemented by examining drug use “events.” Events analyses capture the temporality, dynamism, and multiplicity often lacking in research into contexts of use. Drawing on Actor Network Theory, I conceptualize the drug-use event as a process of successive mediations,...
“House” is the main youth subculture of the 1980s and 1990s in the Netherlands. For the members of this youth culture scene, house is a combination of going to parties and dancing all night while being high on MDMA, a drug better known as XTC/Ecstasy. This article is a review of the history of house and the Dutch house scene. It considers some of the psychological effects of dancing combined...