“The junkie abuses, the psychonaut learns”: a qualitative analysis of an online drug forum community

Drug-related web forums have been argued to be an effective way to investigate the latest generation of drug users. The purpose of this paper is to explore discussions about drugs and new psychoactive substances (NPS) on an Italian psychonauts’ online community in order to gain a better understanding of the psychonauts’ profiles by scrutinising their main motives for consumption, which is mainly addressed to psychedelic drugs.

To collect data, a keywords list was used in the forum search engine. The first five most recent conversations (threads) for each of ten most frequently mentioned substances were selected. In addition, ten posts written by new forum members to introduce themselves were added to the data set, bringing the total number of threads to 60. The data were coded using Atlas.ti 7 applying a template model analysis (King, 1998).

The forum members present themselves as well-educated, informed drug users, and connoisseurs of the pharmacological properties of chemical compounds: accordingly, they claim to be aware of drug effects and possible risks. The analysis of the motives for using psychedelic drugs substantially confirms previous studies, indicating that the main reasons include spiritual needs, self-exploration and self-treatment. The shift from a recreational use towards more “committed” aims such as self-development is seen as a step forward in a drug user’s career. A generalised interest in harm reduction suggests that the psychonauts’ attitude may be a protective factor against adverse consequences of drug use. The most problematic users represented in the data are those who use drugs for self-treatment, since their discourse focusses on suffering rather than on pleasure.

Most efforts to analyse and monitor drug-related forums have focussed on “leading edge” English-language international websites. No studies have dealt with Italian forums. Furthermore the study address a misleading use of the term e-psychonauts recently introduced by some scholars whose’s studies were focussed on NPS.