Abstract
BackgroundWhile 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.MethodsThe 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.ResultsRespondents 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.ConclusionsThe 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.
Highlights
While cannabis has a long history of spiritual use, its normalization in Western societies during the last decades has led to more recreational use
Participants were recruited from a broad range of Internet communities, including norshroom. org, psychonaut.com, norcan.org, www.dmt-nexus.me, various Reddit groups, and actualized.org, either via general recruitment threads that explained the purpose of the study and invited people to participate, or via private messages to individual users who had previously posted to threads comparing cannabis and psychedelics
The analyses show that having a spiritual motivation predicted positive consequences for self-reported psychological health and spiritual practice when controlled for age, gender, education level, personality traits, and drug use
Summary
While cannabis has a long history of spiritual use, its normalization in Western societies during the last decades has led to more recreational use. Cannabis has a long history of use in spiritual contexts (Fuller 2000). One of Śiva’s epithets is ‘Lord of Bhang’, which refers to an edible preparation of cannabis, devotees today more commonly smoke their ‘ganja’ (cannabis) in a ‘chillum’ (clay pipe) (Godlaski 2012). This tradition spread perhaps most notably to Jamaica, where Rastafarians smoke ganja – sometimes in a chillum, but more often as a ‘spliff’ (joint) – and may consider the act a sacrament (Chevannes 1994). One notable spokesperson for the age – the philosopher Alan Watts (1968) – endorsed cannabis as the ‘psychedelic’ that in his experience was best suited for moving into a state of ‘cosmic consciousness’, he found that once the gate was opened, he was gradually able to move into this state without using drugs
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