Abstract
Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) is a significant public health problem associated with elevated morbidity and mortality within the United States. Current behavioral treatments have limited efficacy and there are currently no FDA approved pharmacological treatments for CUD. Classic psychedelics might be associated with lowered odds of substance misuse and may effectively treat various forms of addiction. Thus, the goal of this study is to assess protective associations that lifetime use of classic psychedelics may share with CUD within a nationally representative sample of the U.S. We used data from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) (2015–2019) and conducted survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression to test whether each of four classic psychedelics (peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, LSD) conferred lowered odds of CUD and its related 11 sub-criteria. Participants were 214,505 adults in the NSDUH (2015–2019) aged 18 and older. Peyote conferred lowered odds of CUD, reducing the odds of CUD by over 50% (aOR: 0.47). All other substances (including other classic psychedelics) either shared no association to CUD or conferred increased odds of CUD. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses revealed peyote to confer sharply lowered odds of the majority (seven of 11) of CUD criteria as well (aOR range: 0.26–0.47). Peyote use is associated with lowered odds of CUD. Future inquiries into third variable factors (i.e., demographic/personality profiles of individuals who use peyote, motivational/contextual factors surrounding peyote use) that may underlie our observed associations may reveal protective factors that can inform treatment development for CUD. Additionally, future longitudinal studies can shed further light on whether there is a temporal link between peyote use and lowered odds of CUD.
Highlights
Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) is a significant public health problem associated with elevated morbidity and mortality within the United States
Pisano et al conducted population-based survey research using The National Survey on Drug Use and Health and found that naturalistic classic psychedelic use was associated with lowered odds of opioid use disorder and related sub-criteria[21]
Given that peyote was the sole substance associated with lowered odds of CUD, we subsequently examined the relationships that peyote use shared with each of the 11 DSM-IV criteria for CUD, with lifetime use of all other substances and demographic factors serving as covariates
Summary
Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) is a significant public health problem associated with elevated morbidity and mortality within the United States. The goal of this study is to assess protective associations that lifetime use of classic psychedelics may share with CUD within a nationally representative sample of the U.S We used data from The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) (2015–2019) and conducted surveyweighted multivariable logistic regression to test whether each of four classic psychedelics (peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, LSD) conferred lowered odds of CUD and its related 11 sub-criteria. More recent studies link classic psychedelics to reductions in substance use disorder as well. Pisano et al conducted population-based survey research using The National Survey on Drug Use and Health and found that naturalistic classic psychedelic use was associated with lowered odds of opioid use disorder and related sub-criteria[21]. Online survey studies conducted by Garcia-Romeu et al found naturalistic psychedelic use to be linked to reductions in cannabis, alcohol, stimulant, and opioid m isuse[23,24]
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