Hallucinogen use predicts reduced recidivism among substance-involved offenders under community corrections supervision

This longitudinal study (n=25.622) investigated the relationship between hallucinogen use and recidivism in individuals with a substance abuse history and under community corrections supervision and found that hallucinogen use may reduce recidivism and promote drug abstinence and prosocial behavior.

Abstract

“Hallucinogen-based interventions may benefit substance use populations, but contemporary data informing the impact of hallucinogens on addictive behavior are scarce. Given that many individuals in the criminal justice system engage in problematic patterns of substance use, hallucinogen treatments also may benefit criminal justice populations. However, the relationship between hallucinogen use and criminal recidivism is unknown. In this longitudinal study, we examined the relationship between naturalistic hallucinogen use and recidivism among individuals under community corrections supervision with a history of substance involvement (n=25,622). We found that hallucinogen use predicted a reduced likelihood of supervision failure (e.g. noncompliance with legal requirements including alcohol and other drug use) while controlling for an array of potential confounding factors (odds ratio (OR)=0.60 (0.46, 0.79)). Our results suggest that hallucinogens may promote alcohol and other drug abstinence and prosocial behavior in a population with high rates of recidivism.

Authors: Peter S. Hendricks, C. Brendan Clark, Matthew W. Johnson, Kevin R. Fontaine & Karen L. Cropsey

Notes

This survey study can be seen as a complement, and currently one of the two studies on recidivism and psychedelics, to Doblin (1998).

This study was published on in:

• Take LSD, stay out of prison? Large study links psychedelic use to reduced recidivism (Raw Story, January 2014)

“… indicate that any hallucinogen use disorder was associated with a decreased probability of supervision failure [β -0.49]. This stands in contrast to any cannabis, cocaine, alcohol, opiate, and amphetamine use disorder, each of which was associated with an increased probability of supervision failure (any sedative/ hypnotic use disorder was not related to treatment outcome).”

This distinction between psychedelics (hallucinogens) and other drugs is also highlighted in the discussion, and hopes to open a door into seeing these substances from a new perspective.

“In summary, our results provide a notable exception to the robust positive link between substance use and criminal behavior. They add to both the older and emerging body of data indicating beneficial effects of hallucinogen interventions, and run counter to the legal classification as well as popular perception of hallucinogens as categorically harmful substances with no therapeutic potential. We believe this calls for the continued scientific investigation of this unique class of substances.”

Summary

Hallucinogens are psychoactive substances that produce mystical-type experiences characterized by pseudo-hallucinations and feelings of bliss, unity, and transcendence of time and space. They may share a common indirect mechanism of modulating glutamatergic neurotransmission in prefrontal-limbic circuitries.

Hallucinogen research flourished in Western countries from the 1950s until the early 1970s, with several investigations suggesting that hallucinogen-based treatments held promise for a number of clinical applications.

Hallucinogens may be therapeutic for engendering long-term behavior change, and may do so by increasing GDNF and BDNF, down-regulating 5HT2A receptors, and changing pyramidal cell dendritic spine organization.

Hallucinogen-based interventions may benefit substance use populations, but the relationship between hallucinogen use and criminal recidivism is unknown. However, our results suggest that hallucinogens may promote alcohol and other drug abstinence and prosocial behavior in a population with high rates of recidivism.

Psilocybin can occasion high rates of primary mystical experience in hallucinogen-naive individuals, and these experiences can mediate long-term improvements in attitudes and behavior, as well as increases in personality openness.

Hallucinogens were associated with the countercultural revolution of the 1960s, and by the 1970s their scientific study was prohibited. However, a renaissance in research has occurred in the past few years, and clinical studies have not yet been conducted.

Offenders may benefit from hallucinogen treatment because they often engage in drug-seeking behavior and impulsive conduct exacerbated by compulsive substance use. Early researchers appreciated the potential utility of hallucinogen-based therapy in correctional settings, and reported that all but one respond favorably to LSD and psilocybin interventions. However, more than 40 years have passed since the effects of hallucinogen use on criminal justice outcomes have been tested.

We hypothesized that hallucinogen use would predict reduced recidivism in individuals in the criminal justice system with a history of substance involvement.

Method

This study evaluated 25,622 individuals charged with a felony and under community corrections supervision in Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities. In the TASC program, participants were assessed for current substance use diagnoses, and the primary independent variable was any hallucinogen use disorder. The outcome of interest was supervision failure (versus non-failure), the reasons for which could have included non-compliance with TASC requirements or another branch of the legal system.

The sample was 71.0% male with a mean age of 31.24 years, 59.9% African American, 38.6% Caucasian/white, and 1.5% belonged to other ethnoracial groups. Hallucinogen use disorders were rare (1%) but were 10 times the prevalence of hallucinogen use disorders and two times the prevalence of past month hallucinogen use in the general US population.

Results

We examined the relationships between all available sociodemographic and psychosocial variables and any hallucinogen use disorder in the criminal justice population. We found that younger age, Caucasian/white race, current unemployment, having never been married, living with relatives/friends or in a shelter, and relying on others as the primary means of financial support were associated with any hallucinogen use disorder.

Hallucinogen use disorders were associated with a decreased probability of supervision failure, whereas cannabis, cocaine, alcohol, opiate, and amphetamine use disorders were associated with an increased probability.

Discussion

In a large sample of individuals under community corrections supervision with a history of drug involvement, hallucinogen use was prospectively associated with a reduced likelihood of recidivism. If the association with decreased recidivism is a direct causal effect of hallucinogen use, the potential biological and psychological mechanisms may be at play.

Although the naturalistic nature of our research prevents an unequivocal interpretation of its results, the impact of hallucinogens on criminal justice and substance use outcomes could be potentiated if administered in controlled settings and under the supervision of a qualified therapist.

Our results provide a notable exception to the robust positive link between substance use and criminal behavior, and indicate that hallucinogens may have therapeutic potential.