Philippe Lucas is a Research Affiliate at the Michigan Psychedelic Center (UMich) and a lifelong cannabis and psychedelic researcher and patient access advocate. Philippe was a founding Board member of the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies Canada and co-founder of the Victoria Association of Psychedelic Studies. He is the Primary Investigator of the Canadian Psychedelic Survey (2022) and co-PI of the Global Psychedelic Survey (2023), and previously coordinated a prospective observational study of ayahuasca as a treatment for trauma and addiction in cooperation with a BC indigenous Band. More recently, Philippe worked as VP, Global Patient Research & Access at Tilray, where he oversaw a comprehensive international clinical and observational cannabis research program.
Philippe has worked with governments around the globe to develop evidence-based drug policies with a focus on harm reduction and safe, legal access, and has received a number of accolades for his patient research and advocacy, including the Americans for Safe Access Researcher of the Year Award 2021, the Cannabis Council of Canada Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

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Co-use of psychedelics with other substances: findings from the global psychedelic survey

While most psychedelic substances are considered to carry a relatively low risk of acute or long-term harms, co-use with other psychoactive substances may increase health and social harms. Using a large international survey of adults who use psychedelics, we sought to comprehensively characterize psychedelic co-use. 

We used data from the 2023 Global Psychedelic Survey, a web-based survey of adults ≥21 with lifetime use of psychedelics. We explored patterns of co-use (prevalence, secondary substances used, timing and motives of co-use) and examined socio-demographic and psychedelic use-related characteristics associated with co-use overall and by specific psychedelic.

In total, 5370 respondents were included in this analysis, of whom 3228 (56.3%) reported typically co-using at least one of the 11 psychedelic substances of interest, with co-use lowest for ayahuasca (14.8%) and highest for nitrous oxide (54.5%). Cannabis and alcohol were the most commonly secondary substances. Depressants were the only secondary substance class that increased in use following psychedelic experiences. Greater experience with psychedelics was significantly associated with co-use, as was using for recreational purposes or to reduce/substitute use of other substances. Personal exploration and therapeutic purposes for psychedelic use were negatively associated with co-use.

In this detailed analysis of psychedelic co-use, we observed high rates of co-use with certain psychedelics, specifically when used recreationally. Our findings highlight psychedelic-specific consumers for whom harm reduction messaging around co-use practices may be best tailored. Further research is justified to assess whether specific patterns of co-use might reduce or increase potential harms.