Writing-up [AUS and USA] Methamphetamine and psychedelics

Tronica

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A collaboration of researchers (led by UNSW, but I'm also in the team!) are conducting a project about the effects of psychedelics and methamphetamine (meth) and you are being invited to take part. Taking part in this research study is optional and you may choose not to take part.

If you are interested the research project is looking for people who want to take part in this research and who:
• Have used meth at least once per month during the last 3 months AND
• Have also used a psychedelic (psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, DMT, ayahuasca, or mescaline) at least once during the past three months.

If you decide to take part in the research, a full description of the research is included at the beginning of the on-line survey which can be accessed here:
Survey link removed - survey recruitment now completed - Tronica, 27/9/23

A SURVEY OF METHAMPHETAMINE AND PSYCHEDELIC USE: STUDY INFORMATION
Please read below and click yes if you are happy to prodeed.

1. What is the research study about?
You are invited to take part in this research study. The research study aims to help us design future clinical studies by surveying people who use meth and have also used a psychedelic (psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, DMT, ayahuasca, or mescaline). We would like you to complete a survey that takes about 20 minutes. The survey will ask you about your drug use and other questions about your situation.

2. Who is conducting this research?
The study is being carried out by the following researchers:
A/Prof Jonathan Brett - St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney and University New South Wales
Dr Krista Siefried - St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney and University New South Wales
Dr Paul Liknaitzky - Monash University, Melbourne
Dr Mary Harrod - New South Wales User and AIDS Association
Ms Georgina Bell - New South Wales User and AIDS Association
Ms Maureen Steel - St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney
Dr Monica Barratt - RMIT University, Melbourne
Research Funder: This research is being funded by NHMRC Investigator Grant

3. Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
Before you decide to participate in this research study, we need to ensure that it is ok for you to take part. The research study is looking recruit people who meet the following criteria:
• You have identified as using meth at least once per month during the past 3 months and
• You have also used a psychedelic (psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, DMT, ayahuasca, or mescaline) at least once during the past three months.

4. Do I have to take part in this research study?
Participation in any research study is voluntary. If you do not want to take part, you do not have to.
If you decide you want to take part in the research study, you will be asked to:
• Read the information carefully (ask questions if necessary);
• Complete the online questionnaire.

5. What does participation in this research require, and are there any risks involved?
If you decide to take part in the research study, we will ask you to complete an online questionnaire. The questionnaire will ask you questions about your age, gender, sexuality, housing, mental health, drug use and psychedelic use and experiences. It should take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

By completing this survey you are consenting to being part of this study. If you would like to enter a prize draw for a first prize of a AUD$300 gift voucher, along with a second prize of a AUD$100 gift voucher, please enter your email address by following the link at the end of the survey. Two email addresses will be selected at random to find winners of the first and second prizes.

If you experience discomfort or feelings of distress while participating in the research and you require support, you can stop participating at any time. A list of support services and their contact details are provided below.

If you are feeling very distressed right now or at any stage while participating in this study, it is important that you seek support from your primary care physician (GP) or other health professional (psychologist, nurse, counsellor) as soon as possible.

AUSTRALIA: For medical and mental health emergencies call 000 now for assistance. For 24/7 support regarding thoughts of harming yourself or that you'd be better off dead, contact Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14 or attend your local hospital Emergency Department. You can also contact a 24-hour Mental Health Support Service through your local hospital switchboard or call Healthdirect on 1800 022 222.

US: For medical and mental health emergencies call 911 now for assistance.For 24/7 support regarding thoughts of harming yourself or that you'd be better off dead, call 1-800-273-8255 or attend your local hospital Emergency Department.

6. What are the possible benefits to participation?
We hope to use information we get from this research study to benefit others who may be enrolled into trials investigating the use of psychedelic facilitated psychotherapy for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence.

7. What will happen to information about me?
Submission of the online questionnaire is an indication of your consent. By clicking the 'I agree to participate' button you are providing your permission for the research team to collect and use information about you for the research study.

The research team will store the data collected from you for this research project for a minimum of 5 years after the publication of the research results.

The information about you will be stored in a non-identifiable format where your identify will be unknown.

You will be asked to provide your consent for the research team the share or use the information collected from you in future research that will be specific to the aims of this research.

8. How and when will I find out what the results of the research study are?
The research team intend to publish and/ report the results of the research. All Information will be published in a way that will not identify you.

If you would like to receive a copy of the results you can let the research team know by inserting your email or mailing address in the consent form. We will only use these details to send you the results of the research and for the prize draw.

9. What if I want to withdraw from the research study?
If you do consent to participate, you may withdraw at any time. You can do this by closing the questionnaire. If you withdraw from the research, we will destroy any information that has already been collected. Once you have submitted the questionnaire however, we will not be able to withdraw your responses as the questionnaire is anonymous.

The information you provide is personal information for the purposes of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW). You have the right of access to personal information held about you by the University, the right to request correction and amendment of it, and the right to make a compliant about a breach of the Information Protection Principles as contained in the PPIP Act. Further information on how the University protects personal information is available in the UNSW Privacy Management Plan.

10. What should I do if I have further questions about my involvement in the research study?
The person you may need to contact will depend on the nature of your query. If you require further information regarding this study or if you have any problems which may be related to your involvement in the study, you can contact the following member/s of the research team:

Research Team Contact
Name A/Prof Jonathan Brett
Position Principle Investigator
Telephone +61 2 8382 1111 (St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney Switch Board)
Email [email protected]

What if I have a complaint or any concerns about the research study?
If you have a complaint regarding any aspect of the study or the way it is being conducted, please contact the UNSW Human Ethics Coordinator:

Complaints Contact
Position Human Research Ethics Coordinator
Telephone + 61 2 9385 6222
Email [email protected]
HC Reference Number HC211023

Participation in this survey will take approximately 20 minutes. We will not collect any information that can be used to identify you in the future. If you would like to enter a prize draw for a first prize of a AUD$300 gift voucher, along with a second prize of a AUD$100 gift voucher, please enter your email address at the end of the survey.

If you would like more information or are interested in being part of the research study, please contact [email protected].

If you know of anyone else who may be interested in participating in this survey, please feel free to forward this information on to them.
 
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Do let us know what you think of the questionnaire.
It was easy to complete. However, I could not divine the underlying research question(s) so I can’t really comment on whether the questions were appropriate or not.

To me though, the questions seemed kind of random. Or more like there was a set of meth questions and then a separate set of psychedelic questions - as if two separate surveys.

Also the up-front meth questions were really negative in comparison to the psychedelic questions. The meth sections seemed to presume the subject’s use would be negative and problematic.

Of course it is not necessary for the methodology to be made clear to the subject, but researching the intersection of meth/psychedelic use is so novel I guess I was expecting questions that more clearly examined the integrated experience of being a user of both these drugs.

I may just feel this way because yesterday I unexpectedly had one of the biggest and most emotionally challenging mind-fucks of my life when I closed out several days of partying on meth with 200 ug LSD and wanted to express something about that.
 
It was easy to complete. However, I could not divine the underlying research question(s) so I can’t really comment on whether the questions were appropriate or not.

To me though, the questions seemed kind of random. Or more like there was a set of meth questions and then a separate set of psychedelic questions - as if two separate surveys.

Also the up-front meth questions were really negative in comparison to the psychedelic questions. The meth sections seemed to presume the subject’s use would be negative and problematic.

Of course it is not necessary for the methodology to be made clear to the subject, but researching the intersection of meth/psychedelic use is so novel I guess I was expecting questions that more clearly examined the integrated experience of being a user of both these drugs.

I may just feel this way because yesterday I unexpectedly had one of the biggest and most emotionally challenging mind-fucks of my life when I closed out several days of partying on meth with 200 ug LSD and wanted to express something about that.
Thanks so much for the feedback. I’ll get the chief investigator to check out this thread. To listen and learn!
 
It was easy to complete. However, I could not divine the underlying research question(s) so I can’t really comment on whether the questions were appropriate or not.

To me though, the questions seemed kind of random. Or more like there was a set of meth questions and then a separate set of psychedelic questions - as if two separate surveys.

Also the up-front meth questions were really negative in comparison to the psychedelic questions. The meth sections seemed to presume the subject’s use would be negative and problematic.

Of course it is not necessary for the methodology to be made clear to the subject, but researching the intersection of meth/psychedelic use is so novel I guess I was expecting questions that more clearly examined the integrated experience of being a user of both these drugs.

I may just feel this way because yesterday I unexpectedly had one of the biggest and most emotionally challenging mind-fucks of my life when I closed out several days of partying on meth with 200 ug LSD and wanted to express something about that.
Hi there, thanks so much for your feedback, I'm the principle investigator on this project. This was a tricky one to put together because of all of the informaiton we wanted to obtain without being too leading in one direction. We did co-design this survey with local groups of peer representatives to make sure we covered off some of these issues but thanks for highlighting. I hope you had chance to enter your recent experience in the free text section at the end as it sounds like it was quite an experience!
 
Hi there, thanks so much for your feedback, I'm the principle investigator on this project. This was a tricky one to put together because of all of the informaiton we wanted to obtain without being too leading in one direction. We did co-design this survey with local groups of peer representatives to make sure we covered off some of these issues but thanks for highlighting. I hope you had chance to enter your recent experience in the free text section at the end as it sounds like it was quite an experience!
Thanks for your reply. I did add quite a bit in the free text section and I’ve written up my recent meth binge + acid = traumatic mind-fuck experience here on BL in a few places.

Post in thread 'PD Social Talk Thread: If 2020 Was the Dumpster, Can 2021 Be the Fire?'
https://bluelight.org/xf/threads/pd...ter-can-2021-be-the-fire.896060/post-15475253

I’m still processing - but it does seem to have brought my month long compulsive meth/chem-sex to a conclusive end. I think the capacity for acid to help a meth fiend shift gears and close out a binge is worth further research.
 
You may have more responses by opening it up to other stimulants like cocaine or amphetamine

But of course, that may not be of interest in this research project.
 
I came here because I'm perfect for this survey... I've taken every major known psychedelic and a lot of RCs as well. I've had an episode of psychosis when I was smoking a lot of it very I don't like it picture much detail but there was a man standing in front of me clear as day indistinguishable from reality that's description service. I've smoked meth have snorted meth I've eaten this and my most favorite is shooting. I'll often speedball it with hydromorphone and truly believe was saved from an opioid OD, I wasn't responding until he used painful stimuli on my solar plexus, apparently we can be just long enough for him to get permission to give me a shot of meth I said yes please, going from Beyond 0 to 1000 in that instant was very intense to handle, I've never had anyone pin me before but he was a very close friend and knew I needed some kind of help(ya I know he should have used naloxone but we didn't have any so he did the great l best he could.

Anyways I see it says USD and AUD. I'm from Canada. Does that mean I can't participate or are you saying the cash bonus will be in US dollars or Australian?

Because I would like to help regardless of possible $ prize... Although I wouldn't say no :p
 
Out of curiosity and given the Australian research funding model, what size grant is needed to run a survey similar to this and produce a paper for a peer-reviewed journal?

I can think of a couple of research questions I’d provide seed funding to.
 
I came here because I'm perfect for this survey... I've taken every major known psychedelic and a lot of RCs as well. I've had an episode of psychosis when I was smoking a lot of it very I don't like it picture much detail but there was a man standing in front of me clear as day indistinguishable from reality that's description service. I've smoked meth have snorted meth I've eaten this and my most favorite is shooting. I'll often speedball it with hydromorphone and truly believe was saved from an opioid OD, I wasn't responding until he used painful stimuli on my solar plexus, apparently we can be just long enough for him to get permission to give me a shot of meth I said yes please, going from Beyond 0 to 1000 in that instant was very intense to handle, I've never had anyone pin me before but he was a very close friend and knew I needed some kind of help(ya I know he should have used naloxone but we didn't have any so he did the great l best he could.

Anyways I see it says USD and AUD. I'm from Canada. Does that mean I can't participate or are you saying the cash bonus will be in US dollars or Australian?

Because I would like to help regardless of possible $ prize... Although I wouldn't say no :p
Hi there - quite right we welcome contributions from all countries - there is a free text box for 'country other'. We only included contacts in the event of distress for Australia and US assuming these would be the major contibuting countries. Please feel free to share the link with others!
 
Yea I also feel the requirements for this study speak to the idea the meth use is problematic. They mention people who use “once a month past 3 months” but what about those of us who use meth just a couple times a year? Whereas for the psychedelic only one use in past 3mos is required..

I’ve had some strange and powerful experiences when meth is mixed with psychedelics. While maybe not the exact target audience for this study, there’s those of us out there who use both in a way obviously different from the study authors vision.

-GC
 
I have issues with the psychosis section, it seems to avoid potential issues regarding the shit Ive dealt with on that topic.

I am diagnosed long term psychosis, but it was a real complex situation, I dont agree Im psychotic, and I suspect Im not alone in this false diagnosis.

By comlpex I mean my mom met with the shrink first and told the shrink a story I had told her [my mom]. the story was a variation of the truth.B
So i go to the shrink with no idea my mom got there first. Not only was my story bs to begin with, my mom embellished it.

So I go through the appt with shrink and mention none of the story i told my mom.

Shrink then starts tearing into me ala dr phil about stuff only my mom could have told her.

I was completly fucked and just had to go with it, there was no way out.

I still fantasize about getting the files and tearing this shrink a new one on youtube or something.
 
I would love to help out with this study but unfortunately the drug we used to call meth does not exist anymore. Good luck.
 
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