Global Survey 2020 Results: Self-Treatment of LSD and Psilocybin

The Global Drug Survey 2020 is a large online survey on drug use collected between November 2019 and February 2020.

Positive changes were observed across all 17 outcome items, with the strongest benefits on items related to insight and mood. Negative effects were reported by 22.5% of respondents.

High intensity of psychedelic experience, seeking advice before treatment, treating with psilocybin mushrooms and treating post-traumatic stress disorder were associated with higher scores on the self-treatment outcome scale after averaging values across all 17 items.

Younger age, high intensity of experience and treating with LSD were associated with increased number of negative outcomes.

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Recent Research on Psilocybin Gives Mixed Results

Compass Pathways published the long awaited results of its phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of depression with psilocybin–assisted psychotherapy in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Psilocybin showed rapid antidepressant effects for most patients, but only 1 in 5 participants showed significant improvement at 12 weeks.

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Microdosing- Panacea or Placebo?

Is it all hype or is there genuine hope for therapeutic application of microdosing?

There’s certainly plenty of ‘conflicting’ information or results available from studies of different methodologies. Here, we begin with an overview of what microdosing is, who does it, and for what purposes. We then review available evidence and summarize benefits and risks of microdosing. Finally, we get more practical and discuss microdosing regimens, measurement of accurate dosing, and ‘set and setting’ consideration to microdosing.

  • from Ben Malcolm, Spirit Pharmacist

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Psilocybin for Alcohol Addiction

New research reveals that the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, in combination with talk therapy, could be a promising treatment for people with alcohol addiction.

In a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, scientists found that patients taking this drug, called psilocybin, had an 83 percent decline in heavy drinking, while those who took a placebo experienced a 51 percent decline.

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