Category Archives: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Kratom, Stimulants & Withdrawal: A Developing Story

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This week, for #DFF we’re talking Kratom! You’ve probably not heard of it, but if you have, we’d love to hear from you! Ravelrie, NY DanceSafe & Stay Safe Seattle are joining me to talk about a substance that has both a long history and an entirely new global fanbase. In many places, like the USA, it’s actually still legal, though, as we’ve seen with a lot of gray-area drugs, that may not be the case for long.IMG_1784This drug has the very interesting side effect of essentially replacing methadone for opiate withdrawal. This is something that took me both a review of the research (summed up nicely in this Scientific American article) and a lengthy stay in r/kratom (that’s right, there’s a reddit community about it) to really believe. One of the differences between the article and the concreteness of the sub-reddit is immediately obvious. While the scientists are speculating and wondering about the effectiveness of the drug, there’s an entire underground of people already using it. Not only are they using it the way it’s traditionally used in Thailand, as the organic/natural analog to methamphetamine, similar to Khat & coca leaves in Africa & Latin America (respectively). But it also provides a much smoother withdrawal than when you try and stop using opiates. The only other drug I’ve ever encountered in my research that does this is Ibogaine, but that is a story for another day. This substance apparently replaces the opiate/pain medication usage, but when users try to quit this…they feel like they’ve got a caffeine headache.

The significantly reduced physical dependency potential & softer withdrawal symptoms have gotten people to use it to do what methodone, Narcotics Anonymous & a lifetime of DARE commercials couldn’t. Get them off drugs. Some succeed, a bunch fail, but in this case, they’ve got a leg-up, as dealing with caffeine withdrawal is a zillion (yea that’s a scientific term sure) times easier than weaning yourself off heroin. As any fan of Trainspotting could tell you. The drug isn’t actually scheduled in the USA, but the DEA is watching it like a hawk. There’s a chance that it could be used to help people, but I assume the usual suspects will shit all over that, but the fact that the community exists, is global, and has helped (admittedly self-report & confirmation bias not-withstanding) a lot of people, means there might be something here. Join us on Twitter at 4:30pm to help us figure it out.

We’ve Reversed The Google Ad Words Ban But MDMA: The Movie Still Needs Your Help!

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Emanuel Sferios, The founder of the national organization over 15 years ago, has been working on a documentary movie about MDMA, as all of you are aware of, is extremely popular in our culture, especially today as it’s often targeted in music and the media and almost always misrepresented and misinformed. This film explores its history and use today. And yes, it’s not just some small pet project. Thump from VICE has already covered it and the media campaign is heating up. So much in fact, that Google Ad Words had banned them from advertising. That’s right ladies & gentlemen, Google believed that the first film ever to discuss the harm reduction potential of MDMA and the research surrounding it as a PTSD medication, so Emanuel was told they can’t advertise using the dominant advertising platform of our time, because drugs. That’s why the video you clicked on above this paragraph, was the one that they (temporarily) banned.

In one of Google’s dumber moves this side of Google+ & Wave (you remember those right?), they decided that this movie “promotes” drug use, and will not allow the movie to advertise. This has put the brakes on the fundraising inertia it was developing, but they’re still moving along at a brisk pace. However, in a stunning reversal after a serious crowd-sourced push to get Google to change their minds, THEY HAVE! To celebrate, I’m bringing you a few tidbits from the movie that I hope you’ll watch & donate to/for. First off, Dr. Julie Holland, one of the foremost clinicians in the world when it comes to dealing with substance use, MDMA-use & general rave-related behavior from the drug standpoint. Lastly we’ve got Dede Goldsmith, founder of the Amend The Rave Act movement we’ve been discussing around these parts off and on for months. Both of these ladies are exceptionally relevant within the movement, so please watch & then dig deep.

Multi-Day Festivals & Safety

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2hxslecWhile there’s a whole lot of information out there about how to not die when the party lasts 4-8hrs, what the heck do you do when you want to go HAM over a weekend? Multi-day events are becoming the norm, as festival culture to continues to explode. To put this in context, there were over 800 festivals in North America, in 2013 alone. This stuff is the new normal, and they’re quite different from club nights.

IMG_1552My peeps ravelrie, NY DanceSafe & Stay Safe Seattle are going to focus on tips for the raver/festival attendee themselves, but I wanted to take this time to directly address fest producers & managers. I worked with the Electronic Music Alliance to develop this Event Safety guide for festival managers. There are a number of tips that most people haven’t thought of, but if ravers are aware of them, they can help mitigate the potential for a bad experience even when the festival is kind of a clusterfuck.

Some of the easiest take aways are:

  • Know where the water/crisis intervention/medical stations are before you have an emergency. This can literally make the difference between life & death.
  • Assume that the water stations will have heavy lines & no one will have extra ear plugs. Bring multiple pairs of those & more than one pair of sunglasses, especially for events with a heavy day component. There’s nothing worse than having your shades break on day one and squinting in 3 days worth of pictures.
  • Know the route from the stage(s) back to your tent in daylight & the dark without relying on too many landmarks. One of the biggest issues newbie Burning Man attendees have is the day after the Man burns, no one can find their way around because they were using “the man” as a guide post to locate themselves.
  • Start consuming gatorade & electrolytes after the 1st day. The water stations don’t take into account the fact that you’ve been sweating & pissing salts out for 24hrs, and the opposite of dehydration can kick on when you don’t have enough salts.
  • Pick up your garbage from your campsite gradually over the weekend, such that you don’t have a massive clean-up task when the event is over.
  • Have a plan to get there AND TO GET HOME. No one wants to be the guy who is hitching a ride away from the festival.

There’s a lot to talk about so join us at 4:30pm EST/1:30 PM PST for #FestFriday on Twitter!

PM(A), PMMA, Who Got The Keys To My Bimmer

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PMAThis week, Ravelrie, Stay Safe Seattle, NY DanceSafe & I are talking PMA/PMMA. Just like the rap joke in the title, this topic is as old, and potentially devastating. PMA  In case you weren’t paying attention, fake pills killed some people in the UK over the holiday season. When The Guardian is taking time to talk about this, you should be paying attention. To stress, this stuff has been killing people since 1973. The USA, Canada & the UK have dealt with this stuff, even the Netherlands & Denmark has had its problems with it.

Now remember, it’s not like we don’t know how to get information out to the public. Mixmag reminds us that in the UK people, will call out the gov’t for not issuing safety warnings about pills. That’s right, the Warehouse Project gets information out about this stuff, and even local newspapers in Bristol were getting the word out. Isn’t that really what we should be trying for? Using this crazy security & surveillance apparatus they’ve built under the guise of protecting us, and using it to like…tell us when there are things out there that might hurt us?

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But I digress. You may be wondering why I’m bamboozling you with UK statistics when you, dear reader, likely aren’t reading this from Brixton (BIG UPS BIG APPLE RECORDS!). Here’s the really scary reminder that ties this little post of mine together. Anyone who has been in the scene for more than the last couple of years will remember the Superman pills here in NYC. These pills are seen as the like, the dope shit. And they really are dope. They will ruin your night/life, and we need to be cognizant of the fact that reputations when it comes to MDMA can be used against users. This is DanceSafe  advocates drug checking if you’re really brave (stupid) enough to use these things. To note, besides a random trip report or two, this drug doesn’t have a recreational following. No one is trying to score PMA, they just get it because their dealer is a terrible person. Be safe, don’t take drugs that will kill you & join us at 4:30pm on Twitter using #PMMA.

MDMA, Molly & The Movie!

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unnamedThis afternoon with Ravelrie, NY DanceSafe & Stay Safe Seattle , I’m talking Molly, MDMA, the Love Drug, and all those wacky names Gen X’ers gave it back when you could still buy it at the bar. The name is short for 3, 4-methylenedixy-methamphetamine, so, yes, it’ll be referred to as MDMA. Not the pills you take, not the caps you got at a festival that one time, the actual drug. Because, as we’ve seen MDMA isn’t freaking pure. And when it’s pure, it’s incredibly strong. While pills used to be cut with filler, Stacker 2 or other fat burning over-the-counter faux stimulants (who remembers Dexatrim?!), now, the caps of “molly” or the baggies you see kids “dip” into at festivals have stuff that we can’t readily identify. This quote from the Miami PD explains the point better than I could.

“According to the Miami Police Department, methylone and mephedrone, along with another synthetic cathinone called 4-MEC, account for the vast bulk of the molly seized by narcotics cops in the area. A DEA spokesperson told me that in the first six months of 2013, the DEA’s Miami field office seized 106 consignments of molly, which contained 43 different substances, 19 of them so obscure even government chemists couldn’t identify them. So much for purity.” ~Playboy

To be clear, that means that not only are kids doing drugs that they can’t readily identify, they’re doing drugs chemists & VICE squads can’t readily identify. When dozens of new research chemicals come to light every year, the law can’t keep up. We’ve got MAPS doing as much as they can to get the word out, but they need help. So, to that end, the founder of DanceSafe would like to share with you his cinematic debut. This is going to be providing a fantastic history, overview and analysis of the drug, and the current effects it has on dance culture, its medical role in PTSD & harm reduction associated with it. For more info, check out the trailer below:

LSD, Adulterants & Killing The Vibe

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This week, I’ll be talking about LSD testing. A somewhat taboo subject, the NY DanceSafe chapter, Ravelrie, Stay Safe Seattle & I really think this needs to be discussed. The appeal of and demand for LSD isn’t going away anytime soon, and now, for the first time ever, there are analogues that are deeply harmful & violently different than the drug you actually want.  There’s a lot of good information out there for people who are looking for it, but the problem isn’t just that we’ve got plebes running around. It’s that there’s now, and I do mean only in the last 5 years, a few different things that are very much NOT LSD, but people attempt to pass off as at events. In this post I’ll be briefly reviewing a few of the things commonly being passed off as LSD, but first I want to stress something.

Again, LSD is tasteless unless it is highly concentrated – as in more than would normally fit on a blotter or in a drop of liquid. Liquid LSD is usually a mixture of the crystalline substance and either distilled water or alcohol, which both lack a bitter flavor. If your sample has a taste, especially a bitter one, it may indicate the presence of another substance.

I’m not sure how to emphasize this point made by The Bunk Police more. If someone is trying to sell you on LSD being “good” because of how it tastes, that is either a dealer who doesn’t know what they are talking about, or actively trying to pass off another drug as what you’re asking for. In either case, fly you fools. That being said, here they are, the things you’re probably getting sold if you’re meeting some shady dude at a festival to buy.

That fun looking fella is DOI. DOI is generally seen as the more stimulant-y version of LSD for people in the know. For a lot of people, psychedelics have a significant amphetamine-like effect, and this stuff packs even more of a punch. I think this is important to note. This drug has been noted to be more stressful on the body while giving more energy, to the point where sleep is exceptionally difficult for days. This stuff is marketed as “good” LSD because of the stimulant punch. Ask anyone who has ever been done tripping and just wants to sleep whether they’d want to have that feeling stretched out for another 24-48hrs and you can see why I’m not an advocate. Also, it’s still a research chemical, so we have no idea if 30 years from now you’ll grow an ear or something. Just sayin’

Pictured above is 25C-C-NBOMe, which is one of the couple of different NBOMe bad ideas roaming the party scene currently. I wrote about NBOMe previously and maintain that NBOMe is worse than Ebola. I’ve been largely vindicated in that, but that’s the problem. This stuff is put on blotter and people are taking massive amounts, as it’s psychoactive at the microgram dose. This is the thing that’s been causing ODs & hospitalizations across the festival scene and is scarier than anything else out there. If you don’t test, you might find this stuff instead, which is bad news bears.

Sadly I wasn’t able to find a .gif to go 3 for 3, but AMT is another thing you might get instead of LSD. Differently than DOI, people who know what they’re taking take this because it’s reported to give symptomatology that seems to mix a couple of different drugs such as DMT, MDMA & psilocybin. However, there’s a butt-ton of side effects. Butt-ton is a technical term, it stands for, a bunch in combinations that will probably ruin your day. Additionally it’s got MAOI-style effects, which brings up an entire world of dietary complications that most LSD users will totally overlook. This means you go from zero to enzyme-level fucked up very quickly. Again, also a research chemical, so we got no idea what will happen to you. Your mitochondria could explode. We don’t know!

This isn’t meant to be garbage DEA-styled scare tactics, but to drive home one simple point. People want a drug, because the experience they attribute to taking that drug is something they want. They can’t find it, so instead of not having this experience, they either find other drugs that do similar things, or some pusher comes in claiming the stuff he’s got is that. These substances can mess your body up, while LSD is a physically harmless substance. Our current drug policy has allowed these terrible chemicals onto our streets & dance floors. Until we can change that, make sure you test your stuff, don’t believe the hype, and be excellent to each other. For more on this, check out #DFFryday on Twitter at 4:30 PM. We’ll be there, getting the word out.

Fentanyl: Everything You Want From Heroin, Without All The Oxygen.

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This week, my peeps & I will be talking about Fentanyl on Twitter for Drug Fact Friday. Just in the last couple of days, another OD from powdered fentanyl laced heroin has popped up. This time in North Dakota. Most of the commentary misses the mark. This is not some new fad, or the product of kids looking to get new kicks in their opiate usage. This is a dangerous trend, stemming from one simple factor, decreased quality heroin being cut with fentanyl, resulting in respiratory arrest.

Here’s the thing about heroin. It’s a really, really old drug. Heroin has this generalized depressive effect on the nervous system that many (in fact, 100% of) people find pleasant at low doses. Fentanyl is a much newer, much more precise drug developed for pain management use during surgery. This drug has a much higher rate of respiratory arrest, but clinically this side effect doesn’t matter because a lot of the people who are getting it are usually under general anesthesia and hooked up to heart lung machines. This is a key point that I think most overlook. These users are going to keep using heroin, especially after they’ve become addicted to legal pain killers. That’s not going to stop happening. They can’t afford to go back to pills, and withdrawal sucks ass. So, even if you know it’s cut, you’re still going to use it. And therein lies the problem.

The drugs killing people are the bad pain killers and cut heroin, in this chart provided by DrugAbuse.gov (that’s right, even they can’t ignore the problem). This problem is caused, directly, by the use of legal pharmaceuticals to cut illegal drugs. I can qualitatively guarantee there are no groups of teens out there going “You know, I like everything about heroin, but I’m not getting enough respiratory distress.” There aren’t recreational fentanyl users. There are heavy heroin users who will start using more potent opiates, but no one is seeking this out. But because markets don’t care what drug laws say, people keep getting it. For more info, join #FENTAFF on Twitter, to chat with Ravelrie, NY DanceSafe & Stay Safe Seattle.

#FentanAFF

NeuroSoup, Krystle Cole & The Need for Information.

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researchThis week, I want to tell you about a resource you’ve probably overlooked. Krystle Cole runs a site called NeuroSoup. It’s very similar to Erowid, in that there are informational hubs based around drugs and places to discuss things. But instead of being stewarded by veiled, noble guardians, Krystle came out from behind the shadows and told her story, which frankly is utterly astonishing. If any of the readers out there know their history, in 2003, an underground missile silo was raided by the DEA. Two chemists lived there, producing (allegedly) 90% of the world’s LSD. Krystle was in that world for 3 years, and it utterly changed her. There was a stunning VICE segment done on this, in case you’re interested in where all the acid went.

She could’ve spent the rest of her life ruminating on her experiences, but she struck out and decided to try and help people make sense of the experiences they were having, just like she did. Going into psychology, she’s spent her life not only educating people, but really just trying to make sure people didn’t get as lost in that world as she did. I think this kind of wounded healer needs to be celebrated. She walked the walk, unlike the dozens of authority figures that wag their fingers at ravers but haven’t ever done drugs. She is better than you at drugs. If she wasn’t, she’d be dead. She’s spending her life getting better at it, and in doing so, creating one of the only repositories of usable information about these experiences that exist on the internet, besides Erowid & Pill Reports.

This gets to the central stupid thing about the War on Drugs. At this point, because research on these things has only just started again in the last decade, people wanting to have these experiences could only rely on other lay-people’s experience. Which causes giant problems when it comes to reproducible dosages & variability in effect, especially with a new drug. This is preposterous. NeuroSoup should be celebrated, but the fact that it needs to exist makes me scared for the kids out there diving headlong into a lot of this stuff. This is what the community has created to protect itself. Just imagine what could be done if people actually helped or made the stuff legal such that we could figure it out instead of scrolling through forums hoping.

I’m so glad that Krystle is there to actually focus on helping people. We’ll be talking about her on Twitter using #bioDFF from 4:30-5:30pm, so come on in and learn from one of the best fighters we’ve got out there.

Spice, Or What Happens When Frontier Capitalism & Psychopharmacology Collide

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EgqnRypWhen you create a prison system so bad we regularly joke about forcible rape as a penalty, people really don’t like breaking the law. And because of that, certain people apparently will never smoke pot. They will however, smoke a whole lot of this stuff. I should know. Someone I lived with smoked it by the fist full. To explain why K2 or Spice is popular, we need to understand what cannabinoids, the things that get you “high” are. Because there are chemicals in your brain right now, that your brain makes, that are analagous to THC. That’s right, your brain can get you high any time you want. One of these endocannabinoids (literally “internal cannabinoids”) is called CB1, and it does…quite a bit.

So, this stuff is kind of bizarre, because a lot of the early ones, were just straight CB1 stimulating chemicals, sprayed on potpurri. Literally, someone got the idea to just take the test chemicals used in lab procedures to explore this chemical system & stimulate it directly. It’s such a perfect metaphor for both the the explosiveness of a “had an experience/want stronger version “behavioral cycle, but how our markets meet the needs of our consumers, no matter how complex. These different brands littered gas stations, delis and convenience stores all over the country, as they were legal, “not for consumption” and you got a gram or two for 20 bucks. Proof of exactly what can happen when profiteering combine with poorly constructed & implemented drug laws. The vast majority of the K2/Spice/Synthetic herb brands out there are largely unlabeled and have generated state bans as early as 2010.

If you’ve been playing along on these Friday posts, we’ve seen how drug laws force people to do drugs they’re not familiar with, to keep getting the same symptoms without penalty. People that have to take drug tests still want to get high, and the market will help them. We have no idea what the effects of smoking these chemicals, or the “plants” they’re being sprayed on, largely. But until trees are legal, there are going to be people who would prefer to use this instead of the real McCoy. This is one of the dozen insidious issues with the War on Drugs.  So let’s talk about this, 4:30 PM EST, using #DFFspice on Twitter & get more info on our #DrugFactFriday Pinboard.

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CMEA, A Great Idea, Which Totally Ignored How Meth Users Act.

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This week I’m talking about Crystal Meth. Yes, that drug. The one they really thought they had figured out back in the 00’s, and interestingly enough, gave us a perfect example of how top down drug legislation can miss the mark. In 2005, several states had the bright idea to make Sudafed harder to get, to prevent it from being purchased by meth cooks to use to make…meth of course. They turned Sudafed from “over the counter” to “under the counter” which added checks and signatures and a whole song and dance routine (actually just showing ID & signing your name) to get pseudoephedrine. This would ostensibly create a database of people using the stuff to make meth, bingo bango, they get arrested. No more meth cooks, no more meth. No more meth, no more meth users. This idea seemed so solid, that after many states passed state versions of this initiative, the Federal version was passed by Congress, titled the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005. In 2006, the first person was arrested for stocking up on Claritin, but that’s besides the point. The mindset that produced these laws totally misses one simple thing. And as result, you have the chart above this paragraph.

Dashboard 1 When the meth labs closed down, even after this kinda stuff was made “under the counter” in Mexico (Yea, totally was), people didn’t stop wanting meth. They just paid more for it because it was being brought in from farther away. Oklahoma is reporting this in 2014. This law was passed in 2005, and while it has shuttered hundreds of meth labs across the country, people are simply getting their meth from farther away. This means that it’s more likely to get your meth from a “super center,” which is just a fancy word for a real meth lab. Not like, one in a frat basement, but one where they make the stuff in gallons not milliliters. The resurgence of both Mexican cartel & domestic syndicate meth has brought prices down across the country, but it also amped up the purity. Hence the skyrocketing overdoses. When you start on your friend’s bathtub shit, but suddenly find yourself with a strong need and they’re not in town, you get from whoever is selling. That person’s selling something way stronger, but you don’t know that. You take your normal dose and it explodes your reality. This is being written about by some, but I think it drives home my point.

unnamedA lot of these laws are coming from a seemingly logical place, but they don’t really account for simple human behavior, which opens millions up to potential harm & eventual cost to the healthcare system, as meth addicts aren’t exactly the “saving” type. We need to understand that users, even casual ones, will simply work around a lot of these initiatives, even if it kills them. I guarantee you that standardized purity & dosing will save a lot more people than making sure I bring my driver’s license with me when I go to Duane Reade because I have a headcold. For more on this, join #SayMyName at 4:30pm EST on Twitter to talk the drug that America just can’t quit.