Who are you?
My name is Mika Tsupari, I’m a PhD student and a grant researcher and I’ve been working on my dissertation on the use of classic psychedelics in Finland in CEACG since January 2022.
How did you end up at CEACG?
I’ve aspired to do a PhD on drug research since 2016-2017. My first drafts on cannabis related topics ended up as “desk drawer projects” (I should probably check at some point, what I had in mind back then…), but the precarious nature of academic career kept me back from pursuing this career. The Covid pandemic made me realize, as banal as it sounds, that you can’t prepare for everything, and you just must live with uncertainty in contemporary societies. I wrote my first research plan on psychedelics during that time. After couple of refining rounds the former research director of CEACG, Matilda Hellman, luckily agreed to be a supervisor for my PhD project.
What is your current research about?
My PhD focuses on the use of so-called classic psychedelics (LSD, psilosybin mushrooms, DMT, Mescaline, 5-meo-dmt) from the perspectives of set and setting, motives & meanings and justifications, the culture linked to psychedelics and media presentations and framings of psychedelics in Finnish media.
Why do you think it is important to examine this topic?
Globally there’s a new wave of psychedelic research on their potential benefits on treating numerous mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. At the same time the naturalistic use (using psychedelics outside therapeutic or research settings) is rising globally and locally. In Finland we have quite little knowledge about the topic outside the statistical data of THL. There is no guarantee that the uncontrolled use of psychedelics will end with the breakthrough or mainstreaming of possible psychedelic-assisted therapies. For these reasons, understanding the culture of use and motives serves both to increase general knowledge and to develop current substance education.
While research has shown that the use of psychedelics can benefit some individuals and work, for example, as a catalyst for change or as a self-medication practice, their use might be harmful for some if paradigms connected to the set and setting are not considered. Qualitative research offers us valuable insight on how people who use psychedelics tackle these issues. This has a benefit from harm reduction standpoint. I’m hopeful that my PhD produces new useful perspectives for the political debates on Finnish drug policy, which in my opinion needs a breath of fresh air and more knowledge-based decision-making.
If you could switch places with your CEACG colleague for one day, who would you choose and why?
I’d like to hear more of thoughts, ideas and lived experiences of my colleague Sébastien Berret. He has been part of the research group longer than I have and his research offers us valuable insight on how gambling operators' strategies, gambling policy and profit maximization effect public health.