Support Bluelight by taking the 2013 Inflexxion survey!

Tronica

Tronica

Executive Director
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Mar 12, 2002
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Do you have experience using illicit drugs or different types of prescription medications?

Are you age 18 or older?

Researchers at Inflexxion, Inc. in collaboration with Bluelight.ru are conducting a survey to better understand members' views, perceptions and experiences with prescription drugs. This survey was developed by Inflexxion, Inc. and reviewed by Bluelight prior to release. You will be asked to complete an anonymous online survey, which will take approximately 10-20 minutes to complete. You must be 18 or older to participate and participation is voluntary.

If you are interested please visit
https://inflexxion.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5py8Vh6yOvnd0Lr

or if you have any questions please contact the research team at [email protected]
 
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Just some further background on this survey from Bluelight's perspective.

We have been working with Inflexxion for a few years now, assisting them to develop surveys of our community in exchange for a generous donation. This donation assists us to pay for running Bluelight without needing to turn to advertising (remembering that no staff are paid, the main costs are paying for server upkeep). Of course any upgrades will cost more so all private and organisation donations are very much appreciated to not only help 'keep us running', but to allow us to improve and innovate as a harm reduction resource and community.

We know that only some people who use Bluelight have the spare cash to donate to the cause. So, if you want to help us, but don't have the cash, completing this survey would be a very worthy gesture, which will help add to our donations tally through our research partner, Inflexxion.

Inflexxion and Bluelight also welcome any feedback you have on the survey in this thread. :)

Also, if you are interested in the research outputs from our partnership, an article based on the 2011 results is now published in the peer reviewed journal Substance Use and Misuse (link to abstract). If you are interested in the fulltext, PM me :)
 
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Thanks everyone for taking the survey!

I’m helping out with this year’s survey & I wanted to report that we are currently at 250 respondents- so far, so good! Almost 300 clicked on the link, but it looks like 50 of you decided not to take the survey. OF COURSE, that is completely fine, but we saw some survey comments that this post might help clear up. A few people voiced concern that maybe this is a government survey or that the results could be used to advocate for stricter drug laws, and others said that Inflexxion should share the results.

Just so everyone knows, the survey is 100% NOT a government survey- it is done yearly by Inflexxion. The survey team is interested in maximizing the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs, and learning about the important and effective ways that the Bluelight community minimizes drug related potential harm. Also, sharing the results of the survey with the Bluelight community is part of the plan! Check out the link to the abstract that Tronica posted for the results of a previous survey.

The survey comments show us that people who visit Bluelight are:
* really generous with time (“you can ask more in-depth questions” & “I hope this helps people”),
* very well versed in harm reduction (“you'd obviously made an effort not to come across as judgmental or assumptive regarding different lifestyles, drug-use or their implications”)
* and really knowledgeable (thanks for catching the MDVP-MDPV typo!!).

We look forward to sharing more information with Bluelight as we crunch the numbers.
 
Thanks for the update mds275! We had nearly 1000 in the published survey from 2011. So let's see if we can get a few more respondents :)

If anyone else has concerns about the survey, please let us know so we can address them directly. Thanks!
 
We are up to 420 surveys completed- thank you!

In reviewing initial results from the responses so far, there are a few interesting and unexpected results that have come up. We’d like to share and ask if anyone has thoughts about one issue in particular. We asked every person who said that they had ever used prescription opioids or heroin if they’d “ever had an overdose involving an opioid that was serious enough that you needed someone else's help to recover - not just sleeping it off?”

Only 15% of people reported that they experienced an opioid overdose. This is among anyone who answered EITHER ‘yes’ to heroin use OR ‘yes’ to prescription opioid use, but excludes people who said that they used prescription opioids EITHER only for medical purposes OR that they used for both medical and non-medical purposes. If we include all people who have ever used heroin or any prescription opioid—for any reason—9% report having ever overdosed.

Any which way we cut it, this is still a surprisingly low percent because, in published studies of drug users that report on overdose, between 40% and 80% of respondents report having ever experienced an overdose.…any theories?
 
mds275 said:
Any which way we cut it, this is still a surprisingly low percent because, in published studies of drug users that report on overdose, between 40% and 80% of respondents report having ever experienced an overdose.…any theories?
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Those previous studies might have sampled primarily from opioid addicts, which is a much more narrow and extreme population than everyone who's abused an opioid even once. Based on people I've met personally, there are far more once-in-a-while opiate abusers than full blown addicts, and most of them will never overdose.

Also keep in mind that Bluelight is populated mostly by young people, and you're asking about a lifetime incidence. Unfortunately many of the people who haven't experienced an overdose yet will at some point later in life.

I'd like to see the study that found 80% of opioid users experienced an overdose, that finding sounds almost ridiculous, actually.
 
There is definitely the issue of age and a measure of lifetime incidence. If we assume that more opioid users begin in their late teens, early 20s, an older cohort is more likely to have experienced overdose due to increased number of exposures. It would be interested to analyse the current Bluelight data by age, and see if this assumption holds within the data collected.

If it doesn't (if older Bluelighters are just as likely as younger ones to OD) then it may be more what endotropic first suggests, that we have quite a different population of opioid users than is normally sampled in published research.
 
Those previous studies might have sampled primarily from opioid addicts, which is a much more narrow and extreme population than everyone who's abused an opioid even once. Based on people I've met personally, there are far more once-in-a-while opiate abusers than full blown addicts, and most of them will never overdose.
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This is definitely true- the only studies I have ever seen that report on nonfatal overdose are studies that were done with people at needle exchange or similar programs. It is definitely a subset of the population of people who have ever used opioids recreationally.

Also keep in mind that Bluelight is populated mostly by young people, and you're asking about a lifetime incidence. Unfortunately many of the people who haven't experienced an overdose yet will at some point later in life.
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Another good explanation- we ran the average age of everyone who took the survey (29.5...actually older than I would have thought!) and then the avg age of everyone who reported an overdose (34).

I'd like to see the study that found 80% of opioid users experienced an overdose, that finding sounds almost ridiculous, actually.
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Touche- the 80% is pretty high and I think was only reported in one study (wracking my brain to remember, but I'll post when I do). As above, very few studies actually report on nonfatal OD & those that do are usually among a subset of opioid users. However, take a look at the lifetime overdose report of 54% in this study, which includes people who were recruited from numerous places, not just syringe access programs.

Thanks for your hypotheses on these preliminary results! We'll post more soon.
 
Another update: we’ve gotten 529 responses by now- thank you!

Here are some more preliminary results:

We asked: “Do you visit any of the following drug related discussion forums?” with the following options:
• Bluelight (Bluelight.ru)
• Drugs and Booze (DrugsandBooze.com)
• Drugs-Forum (Drugs-forum.com)
• Erowid (Erowid.org)
• Hip Forums (HipForums.com)
• Opiophile (Opiophile.org)
• Somni-Forum (Poppies.org)
• Topix (Topix.com)
• Hidden marketplace forums (Silk Road, Black Market Reloaded, Sheep Marketplace, etc.)
• Other (Please specify)
• I do not visit drug related discussion forums
• Prefer not to respond

After Bluelight, Erowid is, by far, the next most popular drug forum (76% visit it). Yet people cannot post/interact on that site in the way they can on Bluelight and all the other options listed.

Why is Erowid so favored?

What role does posting/interacting with others on drug forums play for survey respondents?
 
Hmmm- maybe the previous post's results were not exciting enough for comment. Let's try something else!

Based on a lot of media attention to "Molly" in the USA and what appears to be the widespread belief that it is more safe and pure than other forms of MDMA, we asked the question “In general, which form of MDMA do you think is the safest?” and got these results:
Ecstasy- 6%
Molly- 18%
They have the same safety level- 29%
Other response (with a text box to comment)- 22%
Don’t know/No opinion- 24%

Many of the people who selected “Other response” really hated the question (“dodgy question”, “is this a joke?”, “nonsensical”, etc).

The survey responses and comments suggest that Bluelight users who answered our survey are very aware that the name by which an unregulated substance is sold is not the best measure of how safe and/or pure it is.

Do you think that the US media has oversimplified people's understanding of "Molly"?

Finally, many thanks for your time- we are up to 627 survey responses!
 
mds275 said:
Hmmm- maybe the previous post's results were not exciting enough for comment. Let's try something else!

Based on a lot of media attention to "Molly" in the USA and what appears to be the widespread belief that it is more safe and pure than other forms of MDMA, we asked the question “In general, which form of MDMA do you think is the safest?” and got these results:
Ecstasy- 6%
Molly- 18%
They have the same safety level- 29%
Other response (with a text box to comment)- 22%
Don’t know/No opinion- 24%

Many of the people who selected “Other response” really hated the question (“dodgy question”, “is this a joke?”, “nonsensical”, etc).

The survey responses and comments suggest that Bluelight users who answered our survey are very aware that the name by which an unregulated substance is sold is not the best measure of how safe and/or pure it is.

Do you think that the US media has oversimplified people's understanding of "Molly"?

Finally, many thanks for your time- we are up to 627 survey responses!
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I just thought it was a silly think because ecstasy and molly literally have different meanings across the world and even in different cities and different countries. Ie molly might mean mdma crystals in one place but in another its a generic name for all forms of mdma. Also because of this for a lot of people the words molly and ecstasy are interchangeable words so there is no difference in quality because it means the exact same thing.
 
I was doubting wether to ask if that molly question was a joke but decided 'the same harm level' is pretty much the same answer without complaining :) Interesting to see some results posted here by the way after finishing the survey yesterday.
 
Thanks for your thoughts stormcharger & azgaza. You both reinforce the survey responses that show that bluelighters generally have an in depth understanding of MDMA products! To me, it really reinforces the question of if the people who took the survey are more knowledgeable than most or if the media reports of "Molly" associated harms underestimate peoples' understanding of MDMA products. Obviously, the survey is not the best way to answer that question, but we appreciate you thinking on it with us!

BTW- we just passed 700 responses! We'll be taking the survey down on Jan 2, analyzing, writing up & will post more results.
 
I wanted to complete the survey, but I have a whole load of issues with it. Typical of me!

The numbering here is my own, it doesn't relate directly to the ordinality of the questions except they come in the same order.

1. Race
Why are there questions on race? Race has been shown to be a social category with no clear-cut biological basis. How are the answers going to be used? I might have some romany or jewish ancestry. If I go back far enough, my ancestors were most likely dark skinned from whatever the prehistorical equivalent of Africa might be. This probably comes across as me being difficult but people's ethnicity is a very grey area. It would be useful to know how answers will be used.

2. Education
The question assumes academic institutional qualification as the measure of education. Fair enough, if you really want to use academic qualifications in your research. I don't have much in the way of formal academic qualifications but I am self-educated to a fairly high level in a specialist area, and I'm self-educated about other things to different degrees which might be comparable to formal academic qualification, or might be better, or broader. Who knows? So again, why is this question being asked? Maybe you're trying to use "intelligence" as a dimension in your statistical plotting, in which case I don't think formal qualifications are particularly accurate indicators.

3. Do you visit .... websites
Well, I visit Erowid maybe once a year, I used to visit it daily. Same for several other of the options. Does that count?

4. Molly/MDMA

I also found this a bizarre question. I never use the term Molly. There is an "other" field. I would write in there something like "the safest form of MDMA would be produced to high purity levels and distributed and consumed in ways that ensured continued purity, supportive environments and informed consumption."

5. Please tell us your opinion of the comparative risk or safety of several apparently similar substances.

My opinion varies according to whatever reliable information comes to my attention so it is not static. I am aware that my opinion is probably inaccurate and may more closely approach the truth over time as new information becomes available. Because I am aware of the flawed nature of my "opinion" I actively seek to improve it on a more or less regular basis. Often my view changes from day to day according to my direct experiences and my reading of other's reports and scientific literature. I can't express this dynamic nature of my views on comparative risk in the supplied form.

6. Have you ever used any of the following medicines for any reason?

Anti-seizure, benzodiazepines and muscle relaxer are their own categories, but benzos have anti-seizure and muscle-relaxant properties. So I'm not sure how this should be answered.

Also, "Other, please specify", do you want paracetamol/acetaminophen, ibuprofen, pseudoephedrine, caffeine, etc? These are all used medicinally.

Also, there is no "back" button, which is a bit annoying.

At this point I gave up :D
 
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Thanks for taking the time to give this feedback, knock! Here's some insight into our decision making process:
1. Race
Why are there questions on race? Race has been shown to be a social category with no clear-cut biological basis. How are the answers going to be used? I might have some romany or jewish ancestry. If I go back far enough, my ancestors were most likely dark skinned from whatever the prehistorical equivalent of Africa might be. This probably comes across as me being difficult but people's ethnicity is a very grey area. It would be useful to know how answers will be used.
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Agreed! Depending on the source, race has about a bajillion different definitions. While flawed, we chose to go with slight modifications of US, Canadian and UK governmental definitions for race categories. In the US, there is only one "ethnicity" category: Hispanic/Non-Hispanic and in the UK, Arab/Non-Arab is collected, so we included that, as well. The intention of gathering this info is simply so we can describe the demographics of the people who responded (Age, gender, sexual orientation, race & ethnicity, etc). Because we know that people do not universally identify with these categories, we added "multiple/mixed race" and also "prefer not to respond"
2. Education
The question assumes academic institutional qualification as the measure of education. Fair enough, if you really want to use academic qualifications in your research. I don't have much in the way of formal academic qualifications but I am self-educated to a fairly high level in a specialist area, and I'm self-educated about other things to different degrees which might be comparable to formal academic qualification, or might be better, or broader. Who knows? So again, why is this question being asked? Maybe you're trying to use "intelligence" as a dimension in your statistical plotting, in which case I don't think formal qualifications are particularly accurate indicators.
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We are absolutely NOT using institutional academic "educational level" as a proxy for "intelligence"- for the reasons you state and more, it would be a really bad assumption that those two things are interchangeable.
3. Do you visit .... websites
Well, I visit Erowid maybe once a year, I used to visit it daily. Same for several other of the options. Does that count?
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Yes!
4. Molly/MDMA
I also found this a bizarre question. I never use the term Molly. There is an "other" field. I would write in there something like "the safest form of MDMA would be produced to high purity levels and distributed and consumed in ways that ensured continued purity, supportive environments and informed consumption."
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You are not alone in finding this question odd- see the dialogue about it earlier in this thread :)
5. Please tell us your opinion of the comparative risk or safety of several apparently similar substances.
My opinion varies according to whatever reliable information comes to my attention so it is not static. I am aware that my opinion is probably inaccurate and may more closely approach the truth over time as new information becomes available. Because I am aware of the flawed nature of my "opinion" I actively seek to improve it on a more or less regular basis. Often my view changes from day to day according to my direct experiences and my reading of other's reports and scientific literature. I can't express this dynamic nature of my views on comparative risk in the supplied form.
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Thanks for this feedback. As with the MDMA/"Molly"/ecstasy question above, the responses we are getting convey a complex understanding of "risk".
6. Have you ever used any of the following medicines for any reason?
Anti-seizure, benzodiazepines and muscle relaxer are their own categories, but benzos have anti-seizure and muscle-relaxant properties. So I'm not sure how this should be answered.
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You are, of course, correct re: anti-seizure and muscle relaxant properties of benzos. The reason that we chose to keep the categories separate is that the groups of pharmaceuticals have different rates of "nonmedical use" and association with really bad health outcomes (like multi-drug overdose). We hope people who take benzos mark "benzos", regardless of the reason that people took it.
Also, there is no "back" button, which is a bit annoying.
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Duly noted! We will definitely work on this the next time we design a survey.
At this point I gave up
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It's understandable- thanks SO MUCH for the time you invested in both taking the survey and in typing up this feedback!

By the way- we are at just over 900 surveys! A few hours left...we will be taking it down by midnight PST tonight/8a 3 Jan GMT.
 
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A few days ago I took the survey. I was a little bit out of it with no sleep and was dissociated on MXE. When I first started a few times the thought crossed my mind (paranoia) that this was government or that I was going to affecting a new drug law or aiding the DEA/media waiting for it to show the 'hyper-dangerous drug pandemic'.

Anyways I was able to get a quarter of the way in before waiting for a page to load the next questions ("This will take moment to load... Please be patient"), for 15 + minutes then trying to browse bluelight- and the fucking server kept being "too busy" which made replying to a post take an ridiculously long time with dozens of times trying to submit post...
Well I attempted restarting survey/ refreshing/reloading/waiting periodically checking the webpage in hopes that I could finish it. I was finally able to see the questions for the page after 7 hours later and I finished it (around the same time I was able to submit my reply on here successfully).

Overall it was one big pain in the ass to accomplish - not really sure why I persisted for so long, perhaps it was cause I wanted to start what I started or maybe I just like talking about drugs.
 
Overall it was one big pain in the ass to accomplish - not really sure why I persisted for so long, perhaps it was cause I wanted to start what I started or maybe I just like talking about drugs.
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Whoa- that does sound like a pain! We appreciate your sticking with it :)
We've closed the survey now and are writing up the results...will keep you all posted.
 
Thanks for providing feedback and information here man, its not often you get first hand responses from doing a big survey, very appreciated!
 
I think an interesting question for the next survey would be what drugs have helped you to recover from addiction. kinda goes against the current thinking but if the current thinking was the end we wouldn't even have this survey.. so something like what is your DOC and what if any drug has helped you to use less or not use.

Another one would be if you are an addict then what has helped you the most with efforts toward your recovery.
 
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