Until now, there has been limited research on the lived experience of drug researchers, such as their experiential knowledge of drug use, and how it may affect their research. Researchers thus sought to address this gap with the current study.
To do so, they analyzed data from 669 participants who completed an online survey about their drug use. Participants identified as working on research linked to licit and illicit drug use. Their mean age was 41.8 years old, and 87.5% had postgraduate education.
Ultimately, 85.8% of particpants reported lifetime use of drugs, with 46.8% reporting use in the last three months. In terms of drugs used, 81.8% reported using cannabis/tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 50.2% hallucinogens, 46.2% cocaine, and 42.3% ecstasy.
When considering past 3-month use, 35% of participants reported using cannabis/ THC, 10.6% cannabidiol (CBD), 9.9% hallucinogens and psychedelics, and 6.7% cocaine. Among cannabis users, 74.6% of lifetime users and 78.1% of recent users lived in a state or country where it was legalized for medical or adult recreational use or decriminalized.
Just 17.8% of patients considered themselves to be ‘out’ as a ‘person who uses drugs’ (PWUD), with 11.1% of PWUDs disclosing their drug use in research or scholarship and 34.1% in other public contexts. Notably, 55.4% of participants identified as a ‘person who does not use drugs’, whereas 34.1% identified as an occasional PWUD.
Particpants who used drugs believed that drug use and disclosure could potentially enhance research questions. However, those who did not use drugs typically believed that drug use and disclosure have no effect on research questions. Those who supported ‘lived experience’ in drug research noted that it is ‘not possible to grasp the nature of these drugs without lived experience’, and that personal experience is ‘an asset, no a liability’.
“Our findings support the dichotomy of thought surrounding the lived experience of drug use: “[They’ve] used drugs- [they’re] biased!” and “[They’re] not a drug user-what would [they] know!” Our findings provide an opportunity to reflect upon our positionality and the impact researchers’ own drug use may have on the field,” wrote the researchers in the study.
Sources: Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports