Bluelight.org

tl;dr – NBOMe mixtures sold as MDMA are around, don’t snort unknown caps, use test-kits wisely, look after your mates, and get your lab student/worker friends to contact us so we don’t need to rely on labs in Barcelona to access high-quality drug testing in Australia!

On the weekend 15-16 January 2017, there was a spate of poisonings, hospitalisations and deaths that have been associated a batch of capsules that were reportedly sold as MDMA or Ecstasy. Punters at Revolver nightclub and other clubs on Melbourne’s Chapel Street were affected.

The contents of these caps appeared damp, more like a brown sugar consistency than crystals or powder.



We obtained anonymous reports from people who consumed these capsules. The reports describe very strong hallucinogenic symptoms and paranoia. While in most cases, the symptoms resolved without medical intervention, they were very unpleasant, with one person reporting that they ‘felt like they were going to die or never be the...

F.D.A. Agrees to New Trials for Ecstasy as Relief for PTSD Patients

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/11/26/us/26ecstasy1/26ecstasy1-master768.jpg

C.J. Hardin, a veteran who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, at a memorial in North Charleston, S.C. He is a patient in the study of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — After three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, C. J. Hardin wound up hiding from the world in a backwoods cabin in North Carolina. Divorced, alcoholic and at times suicidal, he had tried almost all the accepted treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder: psychotherapy, group therapy and nearly a dozen different medications.

“Nothing worked for me, so I put aside the idea that I could get better,” said Mr. Hardin, 37. “I just pretty much became a hermit in my cabin and never went out.”

Then, in 2013, he joined a small drug trial testing whether PTSD could be treated with MDMA, the...

Please welcome toscablue (Nadine van Gelder) to the Bluelight research assistant position, who will also have a moderating role on Drug Studies.

toscablue will help me liaise with researchers who may wish to donate for banner space or to access our archives for research.

She will also join neversickanymore at Drug Studies: focusing on sorting through all of our research studies, matching older studies up with publications, to illustrate how Bluelight is contributing to research more broadly.

toscablue joins us from Amsterdam - she has held a variety of research assistant roles in the drugs area, most recently working at the EMCDDA, so she has some on-ground drug-research skills to offer.

So, thanks and welcome!

The Journal of Substance Use recently published a paper which represented the international harm reduction community Bluelight.org as a website used for sourcing drugs.

Yet this article’s conclusions were based only on two case studies, with no attempt to review the existing literature regarding Bluelight. Many in this community would be aware of these studies which show that most people come here to learn how to use drugs more safely, that our members actively disseminate information to warn people of highly dangerous adulterated drugs, and that we regularly collaborate with researchers to provide a leading-edge source of data for monitoring new drug trends. Bluelight is regularly cited as a valued source of harm reduction information for people who use drugs.

Bluelight goes to great lengths to avoid hosting discussions about drug sources. Moderators delete all discussions that could be related to sourcing drugs as quickly as they can.

Our response to this journal...

A dabs pizza from Waxerz Containers

Researchers from Wright State University (Ohio) have been collaborating with Bluelight (allowing staff to provide feedback on their questionnaire) and supporting Bluelight through a donation to the site.

The study is now closed. Thanks for your support. Results will be posted when complete!

Official advertisement below, for archive purposes:

Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine researchers, in collaboration with researchers from Columbia University and the University of Massachusetts, are conducting a survey on cannabis use trends.

This survey is open to all of the Bluelight community, including guest visitors.

To participate in this research study, you need to meet the following requirements:
1) Be 18 years of age or older;
2) Have used cannabis (any form) at least once in your lifetime.

The survey is anonymous - IP addresses will NOT be collected; no identifying information will be asked.
The survey is...

A collaboration between researchers at Karlstad University and Bluelight has resulted in a publication exploring motivations for novel substance use in the International Journal of Drug Policy.

The study was promoted exclusively through Bluelight's banner over a 3 month period. 619 users of novel substances responded to the survey, describing a total of 1551 uses of novel substances (up to 3 per respondent).

We would like to congratulate Christophe Soussan and Professor Anette Kjellgren on their successful publication. We are especially grateful for their decision to make the publication open access, so anyone in our community can read it.

If you are a researcher interested in collaborating with us, please see our Research Portal for more information or contact us directly.

Greetings, Bluelight!

With long-standing excitement, I'd like to announce the creation of a new platform for discussing the rising cultural phenomenon of vaping. Primarily applied to the rising global prevalence of "electronic cigarettes," vaping represents one of the more visible harm reduction hot topics across the world.

The new forum, entitled Vaping Discussion, pertains to all discussion surrounding the science, news, health, culture, safety, hardware, etc. of electronic cigarettes/mods/APVs/ENDS/whatever you'd prefer they be called!

As a special nod to the long-standing practice of vaping as it presents in the communities of our Cannabis-consuming members, the parent forum 'Vaping Discussion' includes a sub-forum within it for all things related to vaping cannabis, and is called Cannabis Vaping Discussion.

Though I'll be spending a great deal of time involving myself with both forums as they start up and begin to expand and evolve, we've appointed two...

Have you ever used hydrocodone IR combination products?

Thanks to those 200+ community members who have already completed the survey. We appreciate your help!

This post is an appeal to the rest of the Bluelight Community to spend a few minutes of your time completing a survey to help fund our website.

The Inflexxion research organisation makes an annual donation to help keep the Bluelight community running. Bluelight and Inflexxion have worked collaboratively on research surveys for 6 years now.

We review Inflexxion's surveys internally before their launch. This survey is short, taking around 5-10 minutes for most people.

We realise not everyone has experiences with hydrocodone IR to share, but if you even tried it just the one time, we urge you to complete the survey and help us get to the target of 500 participants.

Consider it as a way of donating to Bluelight through your time rather than your wallet!

View the community discussion
Go straight to the survey

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Bluelight's new research assistant - Cameron Norton, from Melbourne, Australia.

Cameron has a background in psychology and languages and has spent most of the past 10 years living in Europe and Asia. Building on a long-standing interest in the field, he recently transitioned into working in one of Melbourne’s largest alcohol and other drug treatment agencies. Cameron is passionate about reducing the stigma attached to substance use and promoting a well-informed and rational discussion about how to make substance use safe and non-destructive. As research assistant he hopes to increase the profile of Bluelight in the research community and improve communication between bluelight users and researchers.

Cameron will be working with me (Monica Barratt) maintaining and growing the research aspects of Bluelight. I'm looking forward to having someone to assist with these tasks as well as to introduce their own ideas about how best to make...

Hi everyone!

Bluelight is bidding a fond farewell to alasdairm who has decided after many years to step down from heading BL's Admin team. It is no secret that he has contributed more than could possibly be condensed within a single post. Ali has been the role model for generations of BL staff of all levels. His positive energies superseded mere staffing, and indeed his guiding hand and sound thinking stretched to all corners of the community. My personal indebtedness to his character both goes very far and runs very deep.

Bluelight will miss having you in its repertoire. As a community, we can be grateful that you're not leaving the site itself!

Au revoir...


Despite Ali's departure, it is with great optimism and gratitude that Bluelight announces its three newest additions to the Administrative Staff!
Please join us in welcoming ebola?, sekio and baooozs to the team!

It's been a short while since Bluelight has had a full-sized team at the administrative level...