Founder and Managing Director Global Drug Survey

Consultant Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist

Ok, so at first glance this may seem a little trivial. After all, at GDS, we’re a serious bunch of academics and we strive to carry out research that will help people have a safer experience with drugs. But in order to be effective in harm reduction, we think it is important that we have a broad and in depth understanding of drugs and the way they’re used.

Drug delivery is on the rise. Many cities today are surveyed through CCTV cameras, which makes traditional street dealing less attractive to suppliers and consumers. With the darknet facilitating the delivery of drugs direct to people’s letter boxes and encrypted social media platforms allowing people to order in secret, it’s not surprising that there’d be an impact on the speed of delivery. After all, fast food delivery has been around for years and has proven even more popular since online shopping has increased.

Amazon offers a speedy delivery service with Prime and Amazon Now, providing consumers with fast, efficient delivery, at the touch of a button. And since drugs that take effect quicker are known to cause higher rates of dependence – will faster delivery of drugs make people buy more?

Despite additional charges for swift drug delivery, the attraction of convenience and discretion means it makes sense for dealers to invest in premium delivery services.

With all this in mind, we decided to look at efficiency and speed of drug delivery across the world. And to make a symbolic comparison, we’re using pizzas as a benchmark and, cocaine as the test.

If you want to help us provide advice on the best way to stay safe and happy when taking drugs (and are curious about drug delivery speeds) please take part in the world’s largest drug survey now www.globaldrugsurvey.com/GDS2018

Global Drug Survey 2018.
#GDS2018 KnowYourDrugs
Experience counts. Please share yours! Global Drug Survey 2018

Founder and Managing Director Global Drug Survey

Consultant Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist

First experiences with drugs can be a weird mix of scary and exciting as you enter the realm of the unknown. Obviously, no drug guarantees a great time and you can’t reduce your risk of harm to zero unless you steer clear completely. But there are certain things you can do to have a safer experience.

• Avoid drinking. Taking a drug when you’re drunk can make it difficult to judge dose or even detect how you’re feeling
• Plan to be around people you trust
• Find out more about what you’re taking and the safe dose
• Plan the setting
• Know what to expect

Who’s with me on this?
People tell us that when they try a drug for the first time, it’s the individuals around them that are important. A lover, a mate, your best friends – those you know and trust can open the gateway to new ways of thinking and new experiences. But if everyone is trying something for the first time – then what? Who takes care of things if someone has a bad time?

Many novice users of psychedelics make sure they have a trusted person around – preferably someone with prior experience – who can trip sit (which is where the excellent Tripsit website gets its name). Tripsitters are there to make sure their friends know what to expect, are in a good frame of mind and are in an environment that is safe and familiar.

Know the risks
Most people are aware of the benefits a drug might bring but are they always clued up on the unwanted effects too? Nausea, vomiting, gurning, sweating and an overwhelming urgent need to poo can all catch people off guard.

We know that some drugs around the world are becoming more potent (cocaine and MDMA) so first experiences may carry greater risks than they did decade ago. We’ve seen some tragic instances in the last few years where young people have died after trying a drug for the first time. In some cases, taking too much MDMA powder has been the cause.

Using drugs before your brain has stopped growing (early 20s), especially in your early and middle teens can impact on your emotional, personal and cognitive development. So let your brain develop before you try to expand it!

And remember the overwhelming majority of people don’t take drugs. In your teens or 20s between 10-20% (possibly 30% in some countries) of people in your age group will have tried illegal drugs.

No longer a virgin?
Can you remember the first time you did a line of coke, dropped a pill or took an acid trip? Were you drunk? Did you feel excited? Was it amazing or were you left wondering what all the fuss was about?

This year, Global Drug Survey is asking how you lost your drug virginity to coke, LSD and MDMA. The results will help us to inform others who haven’t tried these drugs yet how to stay safe when they do drop, snort or trip, to make their first time a safer experience.

Take part in the world’s biggest drug survey now and help us to help others stay safe.
Global Drug Survey 2018

Consultant Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist

 
The alcohol industry produces a drug. It’s a nice drug and it’s legal. And some of us are quite fond of it. But despite the social acceptability of this drug named alcohol, it is responsible for a large share of fatalities and disability globally.

In 2012, 5.9%, of all deaths in the world were attributable to alcohol consumption1. Even in the relatively moderate USA, the effect of alcohol can be blamed on one in three road traffic accidents, around 50% of violence assaults and over half a million homicides per year3.

While most people understand the risks associated with alcohol and the liver, when it comes to other health risks, public awareness is worrying low. Alcohol is categorized as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), yet in a 2016 study only 12.9% of respondents identified cancer as a potential health outcome of alcohol consumption (Buykx et al 2016 BMC Public Health).

With Trump’s efforts to withhold healthcare from the masses, we’re not currently in the business of looking to the US for best practice, but for 20 years, health warnings have been mandatory there. And it’s not only hats off to the US; Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, China, Israel and Sweden, to name a few, have also adopted similar health warnings!

Streets ahead of everyone else is South Africa and Kenya who have not only introduced a range of health warnings – but in Kenya’s case, they understand the importance of being harm specific and rotating messages to avoid viewer fatigue. Our personal favourite, is Turkey, whose health warnings read “Alcohol is not your friend.”7

Across Europe, which claims the highest per capita of alcohol consumption in the world, there is no EU legislation to warn about health risks on alcohol labels, although some individual countries have made some positive steps to enforce warnings. In other western countries, including the UK and Australia, a voluntary code for producers seems to dominate the conversation. Earlier this year, however, researchers for the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) identified just one out of 315 labels adhered to the current guidelines. ‘No labels contained health warnings of specific illnesses or diseases, advised customers to spread their drinking across the week, nor recommended drink-free days – all of which, like the weekly limit, are contained in the chief medical officer’s guidelines9’.

Furthermore, adoption of a voluntary code and self-regulation has allowed messages like ‘enjoy responsibly’, ‘drink responsibly’ and ‘Know Your Limits’ to be widely adopted. These are an example of strategic ambiguity that Smith9 et al neatly explain as seemingly ‘prohealth’ messages which can serve to subtly advance both industry sales and public relations interests10.

The alcohol industry is powerful. The truth on labels in big bold letters may not be good for business but it might good your health

Consumers of alcohol like any other drug need to be given the facts about the risks they expose themselves to every time they have a drink. They need to know that risk is dependent on how much they drink and that drinking less reduces that risk. They need specific positive messages that allow themselves to feel ok about making decisions that may improve their health and well-being.

In the same way that plain packaging health warnings on tobacco products were used as part of a broader public health approach to reducing tobacco consumption, appropriate and proportionate health messaging on alcohol needs to be explored as a cheap, easily implemented strategy to raise awareness of alcohol related health hazards.

While we at GDS think that raising awareness could be a good idea, we also know that even the most carefully designed health warnings may go unheeded. Heavier drinking individuals tend to be overly optimistic about their personal susceptibility to different health outcomes in comparison to other peoples’. Even heavy drinkers tend to rate their risks as lower than average. That’s why we’re exploring the idea of personally relevant different health messages, and hopefully we’ll be able to identify if different messages are more effective to different groups of people.

This year, in partnership with experts in alcohol research, GDS2018 will explore the impact of 7 different messages – we’ll be asking if the knowledge is new, whether you believe it, whether it’s personally meaningful to you and whether it would make any difference to your drinking.

Alcohol is no ordinary commodity. It’s a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, cancer, violence and social harm. It’s time that we start treating alcohol with the respect it deserves.

Help us understand how to get the message right in your country, and across the globe, by taking part in the world’s largest drug survey now at www.globaldrugsurvey.com/GDS2018

1 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs349/en/

2 https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics

3 http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/ violence/world_report/factsheets/pb_violencealcohol.pdf

4 http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/

5 Buykx et al Public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer in England in 2015: a population-based survey BMC Public Health 201616:1194

6 Pettigrew S et al Developing cancer warning statements for alcoholic beverages
BMC Public Health201414:786

7 http://www.iard.org/policy-tables/health-warning-labeling-requirements/

8 https://responsibilitydeal.dh.gov.uk/a1-factsheet/

9 http://ahauk.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Right-to-Know-AHA-August-2017.pdf

10 Smith SW1, Atkin CK, Roznowski J.
Health Commun. 2006;20(1):1-11. Are “drink responsibly” alcohol campaigns strategically ambiguous?

Founder and Managing Director Global Drug Survey

Consultant Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist

At GDS we really do have a thorough understanding of cannabis. We’ve put a lot of work into researching the way in which it’s used, how various preparations make people feel, how people want to see it regulated and how it’s used as medicine. We’ve explored harm reduction strategies, cannabis concentrates, vaping and the type of support needed to reduce use.

Investigating the best ways to quit
One in three of you have told us that you’d like to use less cannabis and almost half of you have tried to stop. So this year we’re asking people about their experiences of trying to quit so that we can pass on the ways that work and the ways that don’t.

Dependency and withdrawal
Around 10-15% of current cannabis users are dependent (the rate is higher for those starting in their early and mid-teens). And some of the pitfalls associated with dependency are:
• sleep difficulties
• craving
• low mood
• irritability
• loss of appetite
• vivid, sometimes disturbing dreams
and less commonly
• excessive sweating
• intractable vomiting
• aches
• headaches
• shivers

People tell us, however, that when withdrawal is over (5-10 days for most) they feel brighter and their mood improves.

Quitting cannabis is not that well catered for by clinical services. Historically, drug treatment has been set up to manage people with heroin and alcohol problems and many people with a cannabis use disorder don’t feel supported by these places. It’s true to say we’re just not good at treating cannabis dependency or withdrawal. That’s why through our global drug survey, we’re exploring recent experiences of people who’ve tried to stop using cannabis and we aim to share what we learn to help others quit.

So, if you toke and puff, love your doobies, spliffs and bongs but have tried to stop using we’d love to hear from you. Stick the kettle on, kick back and take 15-30 minutes to take part in the world’s largest drug survey now Global Drug Survey 2018

After you’ve done that if you want some personal advice and feedback on your cannabis use including how to use more safely or stop using, try our free resources including the GDS Highway Code

Our advice on quitting (adapted from Winstock et al BMJ 2012 and the safer use limits www.saferuselimits.co)
Management of withdrawal
• Cut down slowly to less than half gram /day before stopping completely
(think ‘diet spliffs’)
• Leave your first spliff until later in the day
• If you use with tobacco – think about using nicotine replacement or an e-cig if you are thinking of giving up tobacco at the same time
• Promote healthy sleep patterns – avoid caffeine after 2pm. (Caffeine can worsen withdrawal especially irritability, restlessness, and insomnia)
• Learn relaxation techniques – progressive muscular relaxation, distraction, mindfulness
• Do some exercise
• Seek support from family or friends, share your plans and talk to them about nature, duration, and severity of withdrawal
• Give yourself some space from people, places and things you associate with using cannabis
• Clear out any stashes or roach boats you might have saved for rainy days
• Talk to your doctor about getting a few days of sleep medication
• Seek medical support if irritability and restlessness are issues for you
• If you have mental health or physical health problems, these can be affected by stopping, so seek medical advice.

Founder and Managing Director Global Drug Survey

Consultant Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist

As so many of you, all over the world, complete our drug survey each year and help us achieve our goal of making drug use safer, we thought we’d share a bit about where we’ve come from, what we do and why we’re here.

Who we are
Global Drug Survey (GDS) was set up in 2011 by Adam Winstock who gave up his job as an addiction psychiatrist to realise his vision of building a truly independent drug research group.

Today we consist of a team of international experts who are passionate about making drug use safer, regardless of the legal status of the drug. Collectively, our expertise spans drugs, health, epidemiology and public policy and together we research substance use behaviours on an international scale.

What we do
GDS is supported by a global network of harm reduction organisations and individuals who, each year, help shape our research by informing us of the current issues surrounding drug use in their country. This helps us ensure we’re asking the questions that really matter. This year, the survey is being translated into 20 languages, allowing us to glean data from more than 35 countries.

No names, no faces
Over the last five years, more than 450,000 people have given us their views on drugs and information on the way they use them. Taking part in our research doesn’t require any information that would reveal identities and we go to great lengths to protect the anonymity of those taking part.

What sets us apart?
We think it’s important that we remain independent and impartial so that we can focus on the issues that are often overlooked by traditional research organisations and government funded centres such as non-dependent drug use and exploring the positive impact of drug use on people’s lives.

We meticulously analyse vast amounts of data to determine new drug trends, similarities among populations and the relationships between patterns of use and the rates in which drugs are seen on the street. We also explore the reasons behind these trends, looking at advancements in drug checking methodology and the darknet, for example, and how these are changing the way drugs are used.

How are our findings used?
All our research is approved by university ethics committees and has led to 50 peer reviewed publications in the last six years.

Each year, our research is used by media, public health and corporate organisations to inform various drug and alcohol intervention services and anonymous, confidential self-assessment tools on alcohol and drugs including cannabis and we produce a range of drug education materials for leading health bodies and professionals .

We do things differently
To ensure that we can remain completely independent, we charge for some of our services. This allows us to be bold when asking the tough questions. We don’t shy away from discussions about topics such as drug law reform and harm reduction because we don’t have to comply with the views of funders or, more importantly, government bodies.

Where we’re going
GDS is still a young organisation but we’re proud of what we’ve achieved in a short amount of time. And we have ambitious plans ahead. We’ll continue to ask the big questions, listen, learn and share what we find. We hope you’ll join us on the journey.

Global Drug Survey 2018.
#GDS2018 KnowYourDrugs
Experience counts. Please share yours! www.globaldrugsurvey.com/GDS2018

Founder and Managing Director Global Drug Survey

Consultant Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist

Can you help us define and describe the new drugs on the block? Your experiences will help us to share information with others on what drugs are worth a mention, what’s best avoided and how to stay safe.

With over 500 new drugs being identified in the last five years, we’re known for having our ear to the ground and learning, before others, about drugs that come onto the market.

Our global drug survey helps us gain a unique understanding of new drugs:

• form (e.g. pill, powder, liquid etc.)
• how people take it
• what type of other drug it most resembles (e.g. cannabis, trips, stimulants, opioid etc.)
• how long it takes for the effects to come on
• how long a single dose lasts
• intensity of effect
• positive and negative effects

Most research on drugs is based on toxicological analyses, web scrapings of user forums and emergency department presentations, whereas our research comes straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. That’s 100,000 horses in fact; all sharing their personal stories with us, in depth and in their own way – something we’re really proud of. And since we started, we’ve produced some of the most highly cited papers on mephedrone, synthetic cannabinoids, DMT, the NBOMe series, methoxetamine and LSD analogues (and we have a new one on Ayahausca coming soon).

In previous years, drugs were designed to mimic cannabis (the Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonists or SCRAs) and stimulants (cathinones like mephedrone and methylone), however, last year, we found that new drugs were commonly being produced to mimic psychedelics. With the rise of fentanyl analogues and other depressant drugs, GDS aims to get a better insight into how they are being used and who is using them. That way we can share information and help support people to stay safe.

If you’ve tried a new drug in the last year and want to share your experiences, please take 15-30 minutes to share your opinions anonymously and take part in the world’s largest drug survey Global Drug Survey 2018