IntroductionCannabidiol (CBD) is purportedly a promising therapeutic agent to provide relief for a variety of medical conditions with mild or no psychoactive effects. However, little is known about young adults who use cannabis and CBD-dominant products, and associations between CBD use and other drug use.MethodsYoung adults (aged 24-32) who currently used c...
In fall 2020, as the nation elected Joe Biden to be our Forty-Sixth President, Oregon voters also passed a noteworthy new drug law reform. Known as Measure 109, Oregon’s path-breaking law legalizes the use of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic substance found in magic mushrooms. Measure 109 is designed to unlock the therapeutic potential of psilocybin, which advoc...
In 2020, Oregon voters legalized therapeutic psilocybin in response to a plethora of scientific studies showing symptom reduction for depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, opioid addictions, migraines, other mental illnesses, HIV/AIDS, and cancer. The legal rethinking regarding therapeutic psilocybin continues in both state legislatures and city coun...
Abstract Background: The misuse of illicit substances is associated with increased morbidity and mortality; thus, substance abuse is a global health concern. However, a lack of laboratory-based research has limited the scientific assessment of drug misuse in the Arabian Gulf region. Thus, the primary aim of this study was to assess the problem of illicit dru...
The Yale Manual for Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy of Depression provides researchers and therapists with methods, structure, and areas to consider regarding the use of psychedelic- assisted therapy in the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). In particular, this manual illustrates a mode of utilizing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a therape...
Despite their acutely inebriating and sometimes unpleasant effects, some people report positive changes in life satisfaction, well-being, or mental health after taking psychedelic drugs. One explanation may be the ability of psychedelics to trigger mystical-type experiences. We examined the validity, reliability, and factor structure of a novel Finnish trans...
BackgroundA recent open-label pilot study (N = 15) found that two to three moderate to high doses (20 and 30 mg/70 kg) of the serotonin 2A receptor agonist, psilocybin, in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation, resulted in substantially higher 6-month smoking abstinence rates than are typically observed with other medicati...
Aim of the studyBased on an abundance of information on the internet, psychotropic plants and mushrooms are of increasing relevance as legal and cheap alternatives to other illicit drugs. Due to the lack of a German database, the abuse of selected biogenic drugs using reported exposures to 3 German Poison Information Centres (PICs) was examined.MethodsInform...
The involvement of the serotonin system in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia has been elucidated by experiments with hallucinogens. Application of a hallucinogen to humans leads to changes in perception, cognition, emotions, and induction of psychotic-like symptoms that resemble symptoms of schizophrenia. In rodent studies, their acute administration affe...
Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences have been linked to persisting effects in healthy volunteers including positive changes in behavior, attitudes, and values, and increases in the personality domain of openness. In an open-label pilot-study of psilocybin-facilitated smoking addiction treatment, 15 smokers received 2 or 3 doses of psilocybin in the co...
BackgroundThis report documents the phenomenology of the subjective experiences of 15 healthy psychedelic experienced volunteers who were involved in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study that was designed to image the brain effects of intravenous psilocybin.MethodsThe participants underwent a semi-structured interview exploring the effects of...
Current treatments for addiction are frequently ineffective. Hallucinogenic therapy has been indicated as helpful for a range of substance use disorders, yet this approach remains understudied and publicly unavailable. It is nonetheless a promising treatment, which has significant, long-term beneficial effects with single doses and a profile characterized by...
BackgroundRecreational usage and attitudes toward psilocybin-containing hallucinogenic mushrooms among college students are seldom explored.MethodsWe surveyed 882 randomly selected undergraduates at Skidmore College in upstate New York and quantified whether participants had ever used psilocybin mushrooms, their attitudes toward the drug, and polydrug use.Re...
Introduction and aimsSimultaneous polysubstance use (SPU) is a common phenomenon, yet little is known about its role in substance use initiation.Design and methodsIn the present study, 226 cannabis users completed structured interviews about their substance use history. For each substance ever used, participants provided details of their age of first use, th...
IntroductionThe use of illicit drugs by students and the possible psychological repercussions in this population of young adults is an important public health issue. While some data in the literature suggest a relationship between cannabis and the occurrence of mental health disorders, and in particular psychotic illnesses, epidemiologic surveys have shown t...
Consumption of natural hallucinogenic substances continues to be a problem. In this case we report from a young male patient presenting with an acute coronary syndrome with significant ST-elevation after the abuse of psychoactive fungi, commonly referred to as "magic mushrooms". Coronary angiography excludes relevant coronary artery disease. In ventriculogra...
Simultaneous polysubstance use (SPU) is a common phenomenon, yet little is known about how various substances are used with one another. In the present study 149 drug-using university students completed structured interviews about their use of various substances. For each substance ever used, participants provided details about the type, order and amount of ...
Psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin are often claimed to be capable of inducing life-changing experiences described as mystical or transcendental, especially if high doses are taken. The present study examined possible enduring effects of such experiences by comparing users of psychedelic drugs (n = 88), users of nonpsychedelic illegal drugs (e.g., ...
