Spatiotemporal Mapping of Online Interest in Cannabis and Popular Psychedelics before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Abstract

Background: Psychedelics represent a unique subset of psychoactive substances that can induce an aberrant state of consciousness principally via the neuronal 5-HT2A receptor. There is limited knowledge concerning the interest in these chemicals in Poland and how they changed during the pandemic. Nonetheless, these interests can be surveyed indirectly via the web. Objectives: We aim to conduct a spatial-temporal mapping of online information-seeking behavior concerning cannabis and the most popular psychedelics before and during the pandemic. Methods: We retrieved online information search data via Google Trends concerning twenty of the most popular psychedelics from 1 January 2017 to 1 January 2022 in Poland. We conducted Holt–Winters exponential smoothing for time series analysis to infer potential seasonality. We utilized hierarchical clustering analysis based on Ward’s method to find similarities of psychedelics’ interest within Poland’s voivodships before and during the pandemic. Results: Twelve (60%) psychedelics had significant seasonality; we proved that psilocybin and ayahuasca had annual seasonality (p-value = 0.0120 and p = 0.0003, respectively), and four substances—LSD, AL-LAD, DXM, and DOB—exhibited a half-yearly seasonality, while six psychedelics had a quarterly seasonal pattern, including cannabis, dronabinol, ergine, NBOMe, phencyclidine, and salvinorin A. Further, the pandemic influenced a significant positive change in the trends for three substances, including psilocybin, ergine, and DXM. Conclusions: Different seasonal patterns exist for psychedelics, and some might correlate with school breaks or holidays in Poland. The pandemic induced some changes in the temporal and spatial trends. The spatial-temporal trends could be valuable information to health authorities and policymakers responsible for monitoring and preventing addictions.

Cultural Divergence in Psychedelic Use among Medical Students: An ESPAD-Adapted Survey among Poles and Iraqis

“…Further, divergent perspectives on psychedelics also yielded notably distinct awareness scores, particularly among those with positive versus negative opinions on psychedelics (15, [9.5, 18] vs. 7, [3,13], p < 0.001). In contrast, medical students who perceived sporadic psychedelic use as low-risk consistently achieved higher scores than those who perceived it as high-risk (11.5 [5,17] vs. 7, [2,14], p < 0.001). As anticipated, individuals with psychedelic use experience exhibited notably higher scores than non-users.…”

“…According to the literature, the level of interest in psychedelics is not static and may fluctuate throughout the year [ 4 ]. A study conducted in 2022 revealed intriguing seasonal patterns of interest in psychedelics in Poland, with some fluctuations correlating with school breaks and holidays, while the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic introduced additional complexities, causing shifts in temporal and spatial trends due to lockdown measures and changes in individual and societal behaviors, while the latter may relate to social anomie theory [ 5 , 6 ]. Notably, the authors identified that psilocybin and ayahuasca exhibited annual seasonality coinciding with the mushroom harvest season in Poland (September and October) [ 5 ].…”

Infoveillance and Critical Analysis of the Systematically Reviewed Literature on Dimethyltryptamine and the “God Molecule”

“…Internet users who surf the web could have used virtual private networks applications, Internet protocol (IP) masking, or implemented anonymous web browsing via the Tor browsers or DuckDuckGo search engine, among others, to conceal the actual geographic location and identity while browsing the web for critical information concerning psychedelics [ 76 ]. More advanced web users might use the deep web and darknet to seek information concerning DMT and other controlled substances, or even purchase them [ 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ].…”