Taking any drug, including heroin, cocaine, Yage, or Fly Agaric, can be low-risk if the user is thoughtful, well-prepared, and aware of the best means and environments for use. The article discusses this proposition in relation to controlled, recreational, and unobtrusive patterns of drug use. It concludes that while the drug's effect is a primary motivation, the user's mindset (set) and the physical and social environment (setting) are fundamental to ensuring the effects match the user's intentions and expectations.
Ceremonial use of psychoactive plant-based drugs like ayahuasca and psilocybin is growing in the US, but little is known about the users or how they distinguish such use from recreational drug use. Interviews with 15 plant medicine facilitators revealed they view ceremonial use as a natural healing practice within community and ritual, clearly separate from recreational use. They see plant medicine as a potential treatment for addiction, though concerns exist about interference with recovery. The use may also influence recreational drug habits. More research is needed on who uses plant medicines, their motivations, and risks.
Since the mid-1990s, publications in the UK and Europe sparked interest in psychoactive plants from South and Central America that were previously obscure outside their native regions. Although information about their effects and extraction methods became widely available, the plants themselves were hard to obtain until online headshops began selling legal alternatives to controlled drugs. This study assessed users' own experiences of how easily they could access information from online suppliers of these substances.
MDMA (ecstasy) produces a distinctive behavioral profile in both humans and animals, as shown by studies of locomotor activity and startle/prepulse inhibition. The precise sites and mechanisms behind these effects remain under investigation. Research into MDMA and related serotonergic drugs can clarify mechanisms of drug abuse, cognition, arousal, motor activity, neurotoxicity, and potential therapeutic value.