The international regime of drug control may violate the human right to life and security.

Critics of the international regime of drug control have often pointed to its criminogenic effects, maintaining that drug criminalization gives rise to a profitable illicit drugs market which in turn sustains organized crime networks. Here I will expand upon this critique to argue that the violent crime resulting from the drug criminalization regime may constitute a violation of the human right to life and security. To support this argument, I will discuss the extent to which policy makers and the citizens who empower them may stand morally responsible for unintended but foreseeable consequences of the policies they implement. I will note that a north-south imbalance is at play: while the Global North has been the driving force behind the criminalization regime, the violent criminality entailed by the regime of drug control has impacted the Global South most strongly.

Unhealthy behaviors associated with mental health disorders: a systematic comparative review of diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use.

Background: There are well-established literatures documenting the associations between mental disorders and unhealthy behaviors such as poor diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use. Few studies have attempted to understand the respective findings in light of each other, however. Objective: The purpose of this review was to assemble comparable data for each behavior-disorder association and assess the associations in terms of their overall strength. The review aimed to include a representative, but not exhaustive, range of studies that would allow for explorative comparisons. Methods: Eligible studies were identified via Pubmed searches and citation searching, restricted to publications no older than 2015 written in English. To obtain comparable data, only studies that reported findings as odds ratios were included, and risk of bias related to study samples, behavioral measurement disparities, and control variables was assessed via sensitivity analyses. Findings for each disorder were compared on the basis of different measures of central tendency. Results: From 3,682 records, 294 studies were included. The review found evidence of associations between each of the four unhealthy behaviors and psychosis, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while personality disorder was only investigated in relation to cannabis and tobacco use. In overall comparison, the associations were generally of similar strength, and only the association between cannabis use and personality disorder was exceptional in terms of being significantly stronger than its counterparts across disorders and across behaviors. Analyses of bias risk identified some influence from behavioral measurement disparities and lack of adequate statistical control, but findings were generally robust across a range of sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: This explorative and comparative review found that poor diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use are about equally strongly associated with a range of different mental disorders. Given the general nature of these associations, we should probably understand them to reflect a general and shared etiology. However, the findings in this review should be regarded as tentative until confirmed by more comprehensive investigations.

Who is the typical psychedelics user? Methodological challenges for research in psychedelics use and its consequences.

Aims: This article argues that despite a resurgence in research on psychedelics over the last two decades, we still have little insight into the psychedelics user population. Furthermore, there is currently little agreement between researchers as to the long-term mental health consequences of psychedelics use. Design: In a methodological review of a range of studies in psychedelics use, it is demonstrated that these studies tend to focus on specific segments of the user population while excluding others. These population segments are probably connected to different patterns of use, which in turn are likely to result in different long-term consequences. Results: The divergent findings on the consequences of psychedelics use may be explained, at least in part, by the fact that different research strategies explore different segments of the user population. Studies focusing on user segments with problematic usage patterns tend to find that psychedelics use is negative for mental health, while studies on infrequent users tend to find that psychedelics use is positive for mental health. Conclusion: Because the field of psychedelics studies lacks a reliable model of the user population, it is difficult for researchers to contextualise and assess the broader validity of their findings. To remedy this situation, the article presents three theoretical models of the user population that afford us with tentative means of contextualising findings and thereby may clarify present disagreements.

The Psychedelic Personality: Personality Structure and Associations in a Sample of Psychedelics Users.

Research on the relationship between personality and psychedelics use has found evidence of a two-way influence where the personality structure predicts individual responses to psychedelics, and psychedelics use results in lasting changes to the individual's personality structure. This study used brief personality measures in the form of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and a simplified version of the Risk Taking Index (RTI) in order to measure personality traits in a sample of psychedelics users (N = 319). The participants in the study scored consistently higher than norms on each of the Big Five traits except Extraversion, and on every dimension of risk taking in the RTI. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, personality structure was associated with characteristics of the psychedelic experience that included the feelings of fear, love, and peace as well as states of perceived contact with non-ordinary beings and transcendent forces.

A dangerous method? Psychedelic therapy at Modum Bad, Norway, 1961-76.

After many years of disregard, the use of psychedelic drugs in psychiatric treatment has re-emerged in recent years. The prospect that psychedelics may again be integrated into mainstream psychiatry has aroused interest in long-forgotten research and experience from the previous phase of psychedelic therapy, which lasted from the late 1940s to the 1970s. This article will discuss one large-scale psychedelic therapy programme at Modum Bad Nervesanatorium, a psychiatric clinic which treated 379 inpatients with psychedelic drugs during the years 1961-76. The psychiatrists there initially regarded the psychedelic treatment as efficacious and without serious negative reactions, but reports of long-term harm have since surfaced. This article discusses how insights from Modum Bad might benefit the new generation of psychedelic treatment efforts.

Cannabis as entheogen: survey and interview data on the spiritual use of cannabis.

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 such as LSD and psilocybin. METHODS: The study employed a mixed methods research design that involved both qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey. Participants in interviews (N = 29) were recruited at various online fora for individual interviews via private messaging, and were queried in depth about their use of entheogens such as psilocybin, LSD, and DMT in spiritual contexts. The Cannabis and Psychedelics User Survey (CPUS) was constructed on the basis of the reports from these interviews, and recruited 319 participants (median age 33; 81% male) from seven different online communities. The online survey consisted of three main sections, with the first asking about demographics, personality, current and past affiliation to spiritual or religious traditions, and non-psychedelic drug use, and the second and third sections containing questions about motivations for, experience with, and consequences of cannabis and psychedelics use. The main statistical analyses used were multivariate linear and logistic regression analysis, which identified the effect from having a spiritual motivation for cannabis use on various aspects of the cannabis experience while controlling for a range of demographic, personality, and drug use variables. RESULTS: Respondents differentiated clearly between the use of psychedelics and cannabis. Their use of the psychedelic drug they chose for the survey was restricted to a median of 1-10 use occasions per year, and 69% of participants endorsed having a spiritual motivation for use. Cannabis, on the other hand, was used a median of 51-100 times per year, and 25% of participants endorsed having a spiritual motivation for use. This minority of spiritual cannabis users differed significantly from non-spiritual users in how they approached cannabis use and in the type of experiences their use gave rise to. In multivariate logistic regression models, spiritual motivation was a significant predictor (p < .05) of experiences of insight, connectedness, joy, love, and unity with transcendent forces. CONCLUSIONS: The study found evidence of a group of spiritual cannabis users who tended to regard cannabis as an entheogen. These spiritual cannabis users had a different mode of engagement with cannabis than recreational users, and reported cannabis experiences that in some aspects resembled experiences with psychedelics. Recent research has not given much attention to spiritual aspects of cannabis use, but the study indicates that spiritually motivated use remains prevalent and deserves further study.

Powerful substances in tiny amounts: An interview study of psychedelic microdosing.

AIMS: This article presents a qualitative interview study of people who microdose with psychedelic drugs, which means that the user takes about one tenth of an ordinary recreational dose. DESIGN: Respondents (n = 21) were recruited at several Internet fora for individual interviews via private messaging. Every participant was male, and the median respondent was in his 30s with a stable job and relationship and extensive entheogen experience. RESULTS: Respondents tended to experiment with microdosing in phases, reporting mostly positive consequences from this form of drug use. Reported effects included improved mood, cognition, and creativity, which often served to counteract symptoms especially from conditions of anxiety and depression. There were also reports of various challenges with psychedelic microdosing, and some did not find the practice worth continuing. CONCLUSION: The study obtained evidence of a group of users taking small doses of psychedelics not for the purpose of intoxication but to enhance everyday functioning. While the study's findings are not generalisable, they may inform subsequent investigations with research questions and hypotheses.