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Persisting Reductions in Cannabis, Opioid, and Stimulant Misuse After Naturalistic Psychedelic Use: An Online Survey

Earth Erowid, Fire Erowid, Albert Garcia‐romeu, Alan K. Davis, Roland R. Griffiths, Matthew W. Johnson

Frontiers in Psychiatry January 22, 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00955 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed
Population Online survey respondents
Topics Addiction Cannabis MDMA Psilocybin
Keywords Stimulant Harm reduction Hallucinogen Heroin Clinical psychology Drug
Citations 155
Key findings Psychedelic use is associated with self-reported reductions in problematic substance use, though causality cannot be determined from this study design.

Abstract

While these cross-sectional and self-report methods cannot determine whether psychedelics caused changes in drug use, results suggest the potential that psychedelics cause reductions in problematic substance use, and support additional clinical research on psychedelic-assisted treatment for SUD.

In the evidence

This study is part of the evidence base for 2 syntheses in the library. Here is how each one recorded it.

  • State of the evidence: MDMA for addiction Supports

    Reports that naturalistic psychedelic use is associated with self-reported persisting reductions in cannabis, opioid, and stimulant misuse, while noting the design cannot establish causality.

    Synthesized

  • State of the evidence: Psilocybin for addiction Supports

    Reports self-reported reductions in problematic cannabis, opioid, and stimulant use after naturalistic psychedelic use, while noting the design cannot establish causality.

    Synthesized

Comparable studies

Other cross-sectional and survey studies on MDMA for addiction, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
User perceptions of the benefits and harms of hallucinogenic drug use: A web-based questionnaire study Users of hallucinogenic drugs who completed a web-based questionnaire 2010 Cross-sectional survey n = 600
Neural Correlates of the Severity of Cocaine, Heroin, Alcohol, MDMA and Cannabis Use in Polysubstance Abusers: A Resting-PET Brain Metabolism Study Polysubstance users enrolled in residential treatment 2012 Cross-sectional n = 49
Self-reported prevalence of dependence of MDMA compared to cocaine, mephedrone and ketamine among a sample of recreational poly-drug users Global non-treatment-seeking sample of last year users of MDMA, cocaine, mephedrone,... 2014 Cross-sectional survey
Mental disorders in current and former heavy ecstasy (MDMA) users Current ecstasy users, former ecstasy users, polydrug controls, and drug-naive controls 2005 Cross-sectional study n = 118
MDMA Use by Paris Medical Students: Prevalence and Characteristics Paris VII medical students 2020 Cross-sectional study n = 592

Citations in the library

Cited by 134

and 129 more in the library

Cites 49

and 44 more in the library

Related reading

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Addiction Cannabis MDMA Psilocybin

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Cannabis for addiction MDMA for addiction Psilocybin for addiction