“How Do I Learn More About this?”: Utilization and Trust of Psychedelic Information Sources Among People Naturalistically Using Psychedelics

ABSTRACT

There is a surge of interest in psychedelics, including new stakeholders and greater media attention. There is a need to examine the information-seeking behavior of people using psychedelics naturalistically, given the importance of preparation and harm-reduction. We examined sources of information for people using psychedelics naturalistically, and the degree to which they are trusted in a large, anonymous, online survey (N = 1221). The most common source of participants’ information on psychedelics was their own experimentation and experiences (79.52%). Most also sought information from Internet websites (61.67%), friends (61.02%), Internet discussion forums (57.08%), books (57%), and articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals (54.55%). Few sought information from their primary health care provider (4.83%). Articles published in scientific journals, psychedelic nonprofits, and researchers based in colleges or universities were the most trusted sources of psychedelic information. Government agencies and pharmaceutical companies were the least trusted. Few participants thought that the popular media accurately stated the benefits and risks of psychedelics and most thought that the popular media failed to distinguish between different types of psychedelics. Our results indicate a high level of information seeking among psychedelic users, with a diverse array of information sources typically outside of mainstream health and medical care systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychedelics
• LSD
• psilocybin
• media
• information
• trust

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to the respondents for their time and willingness to participate in this study and to anonymous consultants who provided us with feedback on this project.

Disclosure statement

This research did not receive any specific grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. KFB has received grant funding from Tryp Therapeutics for protocol development and sits on a data safety and monitoring board for an ongoing clinical trial with Vireo Health (unpaid). DJK, OE, MH, and JB have no conflicts of interest to declare

Data availability statement

The data that support these findings are available from the corresponding author (DJK) upon request. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~kruger/

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.