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Invitation to participate in the Psychedelics User Survey

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Dear Nexians,

I hope everything is good with you.

It has been a long time, but now the first article based on the survey you so kindly took the time to participate in has been published. There are several others on the way :)

The first article is about the spiritual use of cannabis, and is available (open access) at:
jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com

Cannabis as entheogen: survey and interview data on the spiritual use of cannabis - Journal of Cannabis Research

Background While cannabis has a long history of spiritual use, its normalization in Western societies during the last decades has led to more recreational use. This study aimed to explore the characteristics of spiritual cannabis use as compared to recreational use and to the use of psychedelics...
jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com jcannabisresearch.biomedcentral.com

And I also have a paper that presents narratives of psychedelic telepathy out at (also open access):

Psychedelic Telepathy: An Interview Study | Journal of Scientific Exploration

journalofscientificexploration.org journalofscientificexploration.org

Regards,
Petter
 
Hi again

A new article based on this study is now available in the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs. It is called The Psychedelic Personality: Personality Structure and Associations in a Sample of Psychedelics Users, and is available at URL

Unfortunately, the article is not open access, but I have been told that 50 free copies are available at this link: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KCSAC99R7AVKFVW7WBJW/full?target=10.1080/02791072.2020.1842569

If you want to read the full article and the above link does not work, you will have to contact me at ResearchGate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petter_Johnstad), where I can share copies on an individual basis.
 
Hi again

A third article based on the survey is now available at:
brill.com

Entheogenic Experience and Spirituality

Abstract Spiritual experiences with entheogens have usually been studied as a form of mystical experiences. However, entheogen users have also reported less intense experiences that they refer to as spiritual experiences. Using data from the Cannabis and Psychedelics User Survey, this study...
brill.com brill.com

This article analyzes competing conceptualizations of spirituality among the respondents to the study. The spiritual aspect of entheogen use has often been linked to mystical experiences, where one feels (for instance) that one's ordinary sense of self has been lost and one is united with something transcendental. In this study, however, there were indications that entheogen users also regard "more ordinary" entheogenic experiences involving insight, positive feelings and increased relatedness as spiritual. If true, this means that entheogenic spirituality should not be equated with mystical experience, but understood in a broader sense as a practice for increasing one's understanding and improving one's life.

The article is not open access, so you either need library access or you could ask me for a personal copy over at Research Gate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petter_Johnstad).
 
Dear Nexians,

It has been a long time, but I see this thread is still sticky and maybe some of you might be interested to know that after much ado, one more article based on this survey has been published.

The article is called Entheogenic Spirituality: Characteristics of Spiritually Motivated Psychedelics Use
and is available at https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2022.2148060

It's gated, but if you drop a request at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petter-Johnstad I will send it to you.

Also worth mentioning that interviews and the survey conducted in part on this site has led to two doctoral dissertations, one in the study of religions and one in psychology. You can check them out here:

NTNU Open: Entheogenic Spirituality

hdl.handle.net hdl.handle.net
www.duo.uio.no

Psychedelics use: Experiential characteristics and health ramifications

www.duo.uio.no www.duo.uio.no

I am also (after a number of attempts) getting positive feedback on an article on psychedelic ego dissolution based on interviews performed on this and other fora. With some luck it will be published in 2023.

Thanks for taking part in this - I obviously could not have done it without you :)
 
Hi again,

After a long time, the final article related to my interviews here on the Nexus has been published. The article is called How to Disappear Completely: Entheogen-induced Experiences of Self-dissolution and is available, unfortunately only for people with library access, at How to Disappear Completely: Entheogen-induced Experiences of Self-dissolution | International Journal for the Study of New Religions

If you would like to read it, you will have to get in touch with me at ResearchGate ( https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Petter-Johnstad ), where I can share it with you on an individual basis. Sorry for the hassle, but that's how it works.

I wrote nine different manuscripts based on interview and survey studies here on the Nexus and elsewhere, and all are now published. So I guess this is the last update. Before leaving, some of you might be interested to know that I have moved on into more general work on drug policy, so far publishing the following articles:

Comparative harms assessments for cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco: Risk for psychosis, cognitive impairment, and traffic accident. Drug Science, Policy and Law, 8, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/20503245221095228 . This rather technical (but freely available) article compares the risk for psychosis from cannabis and tobacco use and finds that moderate use of the former is not more strongly associated with psychosis than moderate use of the latter.

The international regime of drug control may violate the human right to life and security. International Journal of Drug Policy, 113, 103960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.103960 . A philosophical discussion (freely available) of how the large-scale violence entailed by the drug war especially in Latin America is a human rights violation.

Why are the police against drug policy liberalisation? Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14550725231185417 . Short debate article (freely available) that discusses four reasons why the police generally remain firmly opposed to drug liberalization.

And coming up this fall: Racial and religious motives for drug prohibition (accepted for publication in the journal Drug Science, Policy and Law). Discusses how racism and the Inquisition's ban on psychedelics use in Latin America have served as historical bases for our present drug criminalization regime.
 
You are doing some really great (and important) work. :thumb_up:

I'll be reaching out via researchgate to check out the article. Thanks for all your work on this.
 
Interesting that the traffic accident and psychosis research was paired together. Both are subjects that are of interest to me.

After the research would you be able to come to any personal (not academic) recommendations about whether to drive on cannabis or not? It always seemed to be like a bad idea because reactions times can be really slowed depending on how high you are. This would especially be the case if you are driving in a new and busy city. I'm not the greatest driver but sometimes I miss things while completely sober. It looks like according to the article, it should be fine, which is a surprise to me?

I just made a post about psychosis I wanted to share with you Learn from My Mistakes - Health & Safety - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus I definitely have issues with cannabis triggering it. Haven't had it triggered by alcohol or tobacco.

Finally, I have worked on a research project myself and know how rigorous getting approval from a University ethics board can be. I have a personal curiosity about what the process was like for this sort of research? I imagine the data security/privacy processes were really ramped up. Were there any other hurdles?

You have been incredibly productive! Great work on contributing this whole body of knowledge. I imagine it was enjoyable to work on. Very cool you have been able to do this with a University's support. Thanks for sharing the results.
 
dreamer042
Thank you for your kind words. Hope the sharing on RG worked out fine.

jungleheart
Thank you for sharing your story. I hope things are going better now.

As for the research, my review actually indicates that cannabis use is associated with psychosis and traffic accident. The caveat is that tobacco use is about equally strongly associated with psychosis and traffic accident. What this means is not entirely clear, although a likely explanation might be that underlying factors (a hidden third variable) are responsible for much of the association.

On a personal level, I tend to believe that intense experiences, including those induced by cannabis and psychedelics use, may trigger psychotic episodes. Thus, it may be reasonable to think that people with latent psychosis may have it triggered by some forms of drug use (although not alcohol and other drugs that make you relax, I should think), but people who abstain from such use will eventually have other forms of intense experiences that trigger the psychosis. This is just my personal opinion - I am not an expert on psychosis.

Another review I have conducted and may eventually be able to publish found that cannabis use is associated with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and PTSD at the same strength that it is associated with psychosis. Furthermore, tobacco use is associated with all these conditions at the same strength as well, and the same holds for high degrees of sedentary behavior (e.g., watching TV) and poor diet quality (eating cheeseburgers every day).

My personal recommendation for cannabis use and driving is that you don't. Driving the day after may also be inadvisable, in the same way that you might not want to drive a car if you have a hangover from alcohol use.

Getting ethics approvals for my work was actually pretty easy, although the main issue here was to protect people's privacy. I am sure it would have been more difficult if they focused on other issues.

Thank you for your kind words. I have been working on this overall project for about a decade now, and over the past few years it reached a fruition sort of stage and many articles got published.
 
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