Canadians Share Insights On Psychedelics: Survey Reveals Real-World Use And Access Trends

A Canadian Psychedelic Survey (CPS), co-sponsored by SABI Mind, MAPS PBC and Psygen Industries, recently shared the results of a survey on the characteristics, patterns of use and access to psychedelic drugs.

Designed in collaboration with clinicians and academic researchers from renowned universities, the 655-question poll seeks to gather real-world evidence on psychedelics use in Canada.

The CPS focused on the use of 11 psychedelics: ayahuasca, DMT or 5-MeO-DMT, iboga or ibogaine, LSD or acid, MDMA or MDA, mescaline, psilocybin, and salvia divinorum. 

Additional data was gathered on users and patterns of personal and therapeutic use, as well as the relationship between psychedelics and headaches/migraines, mental health, music, mindfulness practices, and the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Participants reported a range of access sources under the country’s current legal framework and an interest in obtaining psychedelic drugs through more formal regulated channels. 

Data collected anonymously from 2045 respondents over 19 with a mean age of 38 and 56% of them female, showed: 

• Psilocybin, MDMA and LSD are the most used psychedelics. 

• Psilocybin was used at least once by 92.3%, and used in the past year by 59.1% of respondents. 

• MDMA and LSD were used at least once by over 60% and used by 25% in the past year. 

• Ibogaine was the least used, only by 2.3% and less than 1% used in the past year. 

• Psychedelics use is mainly motivated by fun (76.5%,) self-exploration (73.3%,) general mental well-being (62.4%) and personal growth (60.5%,) though some endorsed consumption to reduce the use of prescription (11.2%) or nonprescription (10.6%) substances.

• Over 90% of respondents used a trippy dose of psychedelics, while 6.6% microdosed. 

• 74.9% of the sample endorsed psychedelics use in the past year, out of which 67.7% used them less than once per month.

• 82% of participants reported lifetime intense positive experiences. These reports significantly correlated with people whose use was motivated by fun and self-exploration.

• 52% of respondents reported intense challenging experiences, of which 56% said “some good” came from later experience. These reports significantly correlated with people whose use was motivated by trauma management, fun and boredom.

• 62.8% of past-year users said they accessed psychedelics from a friend or acquaintance and 15.2% through a street dealer or the black market.

• 48.1% of respondents accessed psychedelics online sometime. 

• 64.0% of total participants said they preferred accessing online if conditions allowed, followed by physical retail settings (56.5%) and clinics or healthcare professionals (50.6%). The two latter are currently mildly used as access sources of psychedelics (8.7% and 5.2% respectively.)

• Environmental and social settings varied with each substance: At home and outdoors were the top settings for DMT, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and salvia, whereas home or a large public gathering was preferred for 2C-B, ketamine, MDMA and nitrous oxide. Small gatherings and at home were the typical setting for ibogaine.

• Over 50% of respondents who used 2C-B, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, mescaline, nitrous oxide, psilocybin and salvia reported preferentially using the drug with companions. 

• Most DMT users reported consuming it either with companions (35.5%) or under the supervision of a trip-sitter (35.0%). Over 25% of salvia users also reported using it with an abstaining friend. Ibogaine was mostly used with an unlicensed therapist, shaman or trip guide (42.9%.)

See the survey's full results here.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels and Ground Picture on Shutterstock and Wikipedia.