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psychsafetyalliance OP t1_its1r8j wrote

Due to the freeze on psychedelic research that hit in the late 60's, there's still a ton of research to be done on various psychedelics, especially more esoteric ones like DMT. So if you're looking for peer-reviewed research on medical benefits, in many instances, you just have to wait until the research has been funded and conducted in the first place.

That said, if you want to see what does exist in the medical literature, PubMed or Google Scholar are our go-to databases for published research findings. Many of the studies you'll find in there are pretty jargon-heavy and not meant for the general public, but you can easily go in there and do a keyword search for the compound you're curious about and you'll get a list of things folks have published. Some studies have methodological issues that only research geeks can pick apart and it's still not always possible to say definitively that the findings of a single study are conclusive, but it's a start.

A better option for laypeople can be databases like Erowid or PsychonautWiki, which, though they don't list much in the way of medical research findings, can give you a more accessible glance at the experiences other people have had on a wide variety of psychedelics through the Experience Reports they collect. You can also occasionally find research cited on Wikipedia, though you'll want to follow up with those to make sure they're legit.

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LeHerpMerp t1_its3whx wrote

I'm so glad to see a real psychedelic researcher promote EROWID. This has been one of the best resources for me to get the basics of various drugs and people's personal experiences with the substances.

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psychsafetyalliance OP t1_its4y4t wrote

Erowid kicks ass.

To be clear, we're not conducting our own academic research, but we do study and aggregate a bunch of academic research for a lay audience. Many of the researchers we've spoken with have told us that science has an information dissemination problem, so we view part of our role as filling that gap.

It's also worth noting that many emergency medical professionals like Erowid, as they don't receive much education about psychedelics during their training and can be asked to care for patients experiencing some kind of medical issue that could be due to a substance that they've never heard of before.

Though Erowid doesn't always have information on *every* drug out there (especially very new ones), it's the most encyclopedic database we know of, has been around the longest, and was a major starting point for both of us in our journeys to understand WTF was up with drugs generally, psychedelics specifically, and how to keep people safe.

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LeHerpMerp t1_its791x wrote

Okay I see! Maybe not conducting your own research but consolidating the research that is already out there. Really appreciate any effort anyone puts in to spread harm reduction for recreational users.

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Tatara88 t1_itui8zi wrote

My one issue with erowid is getting pure substance reports can be tedious. Most reports seem to be instances of poly drug use

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