INFORMATION SHEET TO BE PART OF A RESEARCH STUDY
Title of Research: A Short Trip: A Mixed Methods Investigation of the Perceived Effects of
Vaporized DMT vs Vaporized 5-MeO-DMT
UAB IRB Protocol #: IRB-300010827
Principal Investigator: Cynthia Ortiz
Project Supervisor: Peter Hendricks, Ph.D.
Sponsor: UAB Department of Health Behavior; UAB Department of Psychiatry
You are being asked to participate in this research study because you have experience with
psilocybin(mushrooms), or vaping DMT or vaping 5-MeO-DMT. The purpose of this interview based
research study is to explore the experiences of people who have used these substances.
This study will explore what it is like to use these substances and illuminate the perceived impact
on participants' lives and mental health. We are hoping this research will have an impact on
understanding why individuals use these substances. At this time, we are only interested in the
experiences of people who have used: psilocybin(mushrooms), vaping DMT and vaping 5-MeODMT.
What does the study involve?
The first step of the study is an online survey. The survey is designed to determine eligibility for
the study and document the mental health and drug use history of people who participate in the
study. The screening survey should take under 20 minutes to complete but may be as quick as 10
minutes depending on your personal history. Please only complete the survey if you are
interested in participating in the full study. After the screening survey, if you are eligible to
participate in the interview a member of the research staff will contact you via email to set up a
time for a semi-structured interview within 72 hours of your completion of the screening survey.
The study involves one semi-structured interview conducted over HIPAA-compliant zoom,
lasting up to 90 minutes. The interviews may vary in length based on how much time it takes for
you to share your experiences. Audio from the interview will be recorded using a secure audio
recording application and then transcribe the interview at a later date. We will then analyze the
interviews for common themes between participants and will write up the results for publication.
We ask that you choose to conduct the digital interviews in a secure, private setting where you
are alone and not interrupted.
You will receive a payment of $10.00 for the survey and $40.00 after the interview, for a total of
up to $50.00 in the form of an Amazon gift card.
The interviews will address the core aims of the project and will include a discussion of:
Description of experiences while using DMT or 5-MeO-DMT.
The perceived impact of use of these substances on your life and mental health.
Your perspective on the similarity and differences between these substances if you have
used both.
How both DMT or 5-MeO-DMT experiences compare to other drug-induced
experiences, such as mushrooms or cannabis.
Voluntary Participation & Confidentiality
Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. If you decide to participate in the study, you
can withdraw from the study at any point without giving a reason. You can end the interview at
any time, and you can end the survey at any time. Although we may know your identity and
contact information, such as your email address, we will keep this information separate from
your interview responses and will destroy this information as soon as it is no longer needed.
Your data will be kept confidential; however, organizations involved the oversight of research
(i.e., the UAB Institutional Review Board, The Office for Human Research Protections) may
have access to identifiable information about you. You are also not required to use an email
address that includes your name and we ask you to use an alias for the study.
The screening survey data will be hosted on a secure website (
www.redcap.com). REDCap is a
reputable and secure platform for conducting survey research online that is approved for use by
the University of Alabama at Birmingham. If you complete the survey but do not participate in
the study your responses will not be analyzed. REDCap is setup not to track IP addresses. We do
not ask for more specific geographic location other than what country and time zone you are in.
In order to protect the confidentiality of the participants, the following procedures will be conducted
related to emails:
The participant, once they have reached the end of the main survey, will be asked to enter a unique
ID such as ‘Please enter the last two digits of your SS#, the two digits of your birthday month (01-
12), and your middle initial (if you have one).’ After entering the ID, participants will be asked to click
on a separate Qualtrics link to continue with the survey. After clicking on the separate Qualtrics link,
the second survey will also ask participants to enter their unique ID as well as their email address.
This will prevent survey responses from being directly linked with emails on the main survey. This
method also provides a way for investigators to link each main survey with an email through the
unique ID. A list of emails and ID numbers (i.e., a master list) would be stored separately on a secure
UAB device or UAB server.
Risks
The risks of participating are minimal. The primary risk is the loss of confidentiality. During the
interview, we ask that you not use your real name or mention any identifying information. If you
do happen to mention this, we will remove all identifying information during the transcription
and then delete the recording.
This study focuses on interviews about your experiences with Psilocybin(mushrooms), DMT, 5-
MeO-DMT and other substances. The questions we ask you are open-ended, not intended to be
distressing, but rather an opportunity to tell your stories with these experiences. Still, it is
possible some of the questions we ask may bring up memories that are emotional or difficult to
remember. The interviewer can provide you with a list of resources free mental health resources
provided in the closing page of the screening survey.
You can also end the interview at any time without providing a reason. If you have concerns
about participating in the study, please speak with your doctor or mental health care provider
before participating. If you anticipate that discussing your experiences will be distressing for
you, we ask that you refrain from participating in this study.
There may be economic risk due to participating in this study. This could occur if, in an
extremely unlikely event your employer could identify your responses regarding the use of
psychedelics or other illegal substances. This is a very rare risk due to the steps used to increase
confidentiality. Your name will not be associated with your responses, and we will not publish
any information that could accidentally identify you (such as where you live, more specific than
country). We ask that you conduct the interviews in a private location, away from where you
may be interrupted by others in part for this reason. Additionally, all study communication
emails will not mention this study is related to illegal substance use and will instead describe it
as a study on mental health.
A very unlikely risk is legal consequences. This is seen as very unlikely, particularly given it is
not legal to discuss past experiences with illegal substance use. Additionally, we will ask you not
to discuss how you obtained illicit substances and whether you currently possess any illegal
drugs.
Payments
If you are eligible to participate you will be paid up to $50.00 in the form of an Amazon gift
card. There is a $10.00 compensation per completion of the survey and $40.00 compensation for
completion of the interview.
Benefits
The benefits to you personally may be limited to the satisfaction of being able to tell your stories.
However, we believe the larger benefits of the research are that may provide insights into the
effects of psilocybin(mushrooms), DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT on an individual’s mental and
physical health. This study may help health professionals better understand the positive and
negative effects of using such substances.
Contact Information
If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about the research, please contact the
Principal Investigator, Cynthia Ortiz, at 205-996-1198 or email at
[email protected].
If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, or concerns or complaints about
the research, you may contact the UAB Office of the IRB (OIRB) at (205) 934-3789 or toll free
at 1- 855-860-3789. Regular hours for the OIRB are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, Monday through
Friday. The UAB IRB can be emailed at
[email protected].
Concerns may also be addressed to the investigator’s supervisor, Dr. Peter Hendricks, at 205-
202-1387 or email at
[email protected].
