Understanding the real-world effects of recreational drug use remains a critical challenge in public health and biomedical research, especially as traditional surveillance systems often underrepresent user experiences. In this study, we leverage social media (specifically Twitter) as a rich and unfiltered source of user-reported effects associated with three emerging psychoactive substances:...
"Tusi," commonly known by various names such as "pink cocaine," "cocaina rosada," "Tucibi," "pink powder," "Eros," and "Venus," is a psychoactive mixture of substances that first appeared in Colombia around 2010. Since its emergence, its use has expanded across Latin America, the United States, Australia, parts of Southeast Asia and Europe, with notable prevalence in Spain. The composition of...
Stasiosemiotics is made of two concepts: ‘stasis’ and ‘semiotics’. Stasis is a concept that refers to both the division of society and a suspension of time. As a branch of general semiotics, its specific focus, or object, is semiosis stasis, or semiostasis, which is technically impossible: by definition, semiosis is evergoing, continuous and infinite. Though paradoxical, semiostasis can...
The current revival of interest in classic psychedelics and other psychoactives such as ketamine and MDMA, coupled with changes to their regulatory status in many jurisdictions, necessitates rigorous ethical guidelines both within and beyond clinical and scientific contexts. This paper examines crucial ethical, philosophical, and policy considerations needed to ensure psychedelic use across...
Psychedelic drugs, known for their profound effects on perception, cognition, and emotion, have long captivated scientific, cultural, and therapeutic interest. Following the discovery of LSD’s psychoactive properties in 1943, research surged into its therapeutic potential and the nature of consciousness. However, the integration of psychedelics into the 1960s counterculture led to moral panic,...
States like Hawai‘i are decriminalizing psychedelics based on emerging evidence linking their use to improved psychological well-being. Yet, in many cultural contexts, stigma surrounding mental illness may lead individuals to pursue non-traditional forms of healing, including psychedelics, in place of formal care. This study examines how psychedelic use relates to mental health...
Professor Gregor Hasler stands at the forefront of revolutionary psychedelic research and neuroplasticity studies, transforming our understanding of mental health treatment through groundbreaking scientific discoveries. As Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where he directs the Molecular Psychiatry Lab, Hasler has pioneered research on how psychedelics like LSD,...
The potential use of psychedelic-assisted therapy for adolescents with mental illness has sparked both interest and concern. Modern psychedelic research has focused on adults, and adolescents younger than 18 years are typically excluded due to ethical and legal challenges. To explore whether adolescents have been included in 21st century psychedelic research, we conducted a scoping review of...
Psychotherapy with the use of psychedelics is an emerging field that evokes both curiosity and scepticism. This article explores how these substances, despite their controversial reputation, can have their therapeutic value within a systemic context. For centuries, psychedelics have been used for spiritual and healing purposes and received considerable scientific attention in psychiatry in the...
The anarchic embrace of difference in the encounters of and variations on Western and non-Western spiritual practices in Martinique reveals ways of disrupting the univocal, linear, and centralizing violence of plantation society. Examining the various techniques of collective ecstasy through song, dance, and other sacramental signs of spirit possession calls attention to anticolonial models of...