This study looked at how people who use drugs and addiction experts think about the good and bad effects of different substances. The researchers asked two groups – people in drug treatment programs and addiction experts – to rate things like how harmful and how helpful different drugs/substances are.

The study found that both groups ranked traditional illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines as the most harmful. But they had some different views on other substances. For example, the experts thought methadone (a drug used to treat opioid addiction) was less harmful than the people in treatment thought. And the people in treatment thought the illegal drugs were more helpful than the experts did. The researchers think this is because the people in treatment may be more attracted to the good feelings these drugs can cause.

This study was done in the real world, not a lab. It involved interviews with 117 people in drug treatment programs in Germany and 101 addiction experts. It looked at the perspectives of both people who use drugs and the experts who treat addiction.

Key takeaways:

• Both users and experts ranked traditional illegal drugs as most harmful.
• Users rated methadone as more harmful than experts did.
• Users rated illegal drugs as more beneficial than experts did.
• It provides insight into how users and experts view the harms and benefits of different drugs.

For further reading:

Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1041762/full

Full Citation:

Axelsson, M. A., Lvgren, H., Kronstrand, R., Green, H., & Bergstrm, M. A. (2022).
Retrospective identification of new psychoactive substances in patient samples submitted for
clinical drug analysis. Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, 131(5), 420-434.