Spatiotemporal Mapping of Online Interest in Cannabis and Popular Psychedelics before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Ahmed Al-Imam; Marek A Motyka; Zuzanna Witulska; Manal Younus; Michał Michalak

doi:10.3390/ijerph19116619

Spatiotemporal Mapping of Online Interest in Cannabis and Popular Psychedelics before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Poland

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 29;19(11):6619. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116619.

Authors

Ahmed Al-Imam^{1

2

3}, Marek A Motyka⁴, Zuzanna Witulska⁵, Manal Younus⁶, Michał Michalak²

Affiliations

¹ Doctoral School, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-512 Poznan, Poland.
² Department of Computer Science and Statistics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Rokietnicka 7 St. (1st Floor), 61-806 Poznan, Poland.
³ Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10001, Iraq.
⁴ Institute of Sociological Sciences, University of Rzeszow, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland.
⁵ Faculty of Psychology and Law, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Kutrzeby 10, 61-719 Poznan, Poland.
⁶ Iraqi Pharmacovigilance Centre, Ministry of Health, Baghdad 10001, Iraq.

Abstract

Background: Psychedelics represent a unique subset of psychoactive substances that can induce an aberrant state of consciousness principally via the neuronal 5-HT2A receptor. There is limited knowledge concerning the interest in these chemicals in Poland and how they changed during the pandemic. Nonetheless, these interests can be surveyed indirectly via the web.

Objectives: We aim to conduct a spatial-temporal mapping of online information-seeking behavior concerning cannabis and the most popular psychedelics before and during the pandemic.

Methods: We retrieved online information search data via Google Trends concerning twenty of the most popular psychedelics from 1 January 2017 to 1 January 2022 in Poland. We conducted Holt-Winters exponential smoothing for time series analysis to infer potential seasonality. We utilized hierarchical clustering analysis based on Ward's method to find similarities of psychedelics' interest within Poland's voivodships before and during the pandemic.

Results: Twelve (60%) psychedelics had significant seasonality; we proved that psilocybin and ayahuasca had annual seasonality (p-value = 0.0120 and p = 0.0003, respectively), and four substances-LSD, AL-LAD, DXM, and DOB-exhibited a half-yearly seasonality, while six psychedelics had a quarterly seasonal pattern, including cannabis, dronabinol, ergine, NBOMe, phencyclidine, and salvinorin A. Further, the pandemic influenced a significant positive change in the trends for three substances, including psilocybin, ergine, and DXM.

Conclusions: Different seasonal patterns exist for psychedelics, and some might correlate with school breaks or holidays in Poland. The pandemic induced some changes in the temporal and spatial trends. The spatial-temporal trends could be valuable information to health authorities and policymakers responsible for monitoring and preventing addictions.

Keywords: Holt–Winters exponential smoothing; clustering analysis; entheogens; hallucinogens; social anomie theory; spatiotemporal mapping; time series analysis; web analytics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Cannabis*
Hallucinogens*
Humans
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide / pharmacology
Pandemics
Poland / epidemiology
Psilocybin / pharmacology

Substances

Hallucinogens
Psilocybin
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

Grants and funding

The current research was financed from the statutory subsidy for young scientists-students at the Doctoral School of the Poznan University of Medical Sciences. The decision by the Grant Evaluation Committee was issued as per the document numbered SDUM-DGB 14/05/22 on the 5 May 2022.