Researchers throughout Australia would like to talk to people who use ecstasy

[thestudent14]

Redirected from pillReports.com
April 6, 2010
Posted by Johnboy @ 9:17pm

Interviews take about an hour and are strictly confidential and anonymous. You will be reimbursed for your time and expenses.

Please contact the researchers in your state or territory for further information or to make an appointment. If you reach voice mail please leave a name and contact number and someone will get back to you.

If you are in Adelaide:

Call/text the research team at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW on 0403 617 309 or email [email protected]. We can negotiate a suitable location for the interview, convenient for you.

If you are in Canberra:

Contact Jo at UNSW by email ([email protected]) or call (02) 9385 0397 or SMS 0434279811. Interviews will be conducted at ANU, UC or a location convenient for you.

If you are in Darwin:

Contact Benjamin at UNSW by email ([email protected]) or call (02) 9385 0264 or SMS 0404 920 044. Interviews will be conducted at a location convenient for you.

If you are in Brisbane or the Gold Coast:

Call or SMS the research team at the Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre (QADREC), University of Queensland on (07) 3365 5443 or 0434 606 981 to leave a name and contact number and someone will get back to you, or email [email protected]. Interviews will be conducted at a location convenient to you.

If you are in Hobart:

Call or SMS the research team at the University of Tasmania on (03) 6226 7697 or 0409 803 813 to leave a name and contact number and someone will get back to you, or email [email protected]. Interviews will be conducted at a location convenient to you.

If you are in Melbourne:

Call or SMS Anita on (03) 8506 2365 or 0457 522 549 at the Centre for Population Health Research, Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health, or email [email protected]. Interviews will be conducted at an agreed public location.

If you are in Sydney:

Call Laura on (02) 9385 0407 at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW, SMS your details to 0404 786 677 or email [email protected]. If you are in Sydney, Interviews will be conducted at the centre in Randwick or at a location convenient for you.


If you are in Perth:

Call Candice on (08) 9266 1636 at the National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology, SMS your name and contact number to 0416 303 461 or email [email protected]. Interviews will be conducted at a central location of convenience.


ALL INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE WILL REMAIN CONFIDENTIAL.

 

[thestudent14]

Was kind of suprised to see this had only been posted on pillreports and bluelight aswell.
Even though this was probably because it's only directed at people who take ecstasy.

Any how. I'll be contacting for a Melbourne interview tomorrow, I'd like to see some of you guys back this aswell.

 

[PsiloSubNaut]

I have seen adds for this in beat mag and was considering signing up

I did interviews for both MDMA and meth use last year

Well worth the effort to help in the research of these drugs

If you are new to the ecstasy scene then you may not have had MDMA yet, with the current shortages and all...

 

[Jordan`]

Signed up

 

[phase_dancer]

Let's hope they've included mephedrone as a separate entry this year. If the organisors of the past (you know who you are) could have included this when I first mentioned it in mid 07, we'd now have some good stats on escalation of use, market trends etc.

What's the point of a study featuring MDMA if the majority of "ecstasy" users are actually taking something else, often with full knowledge it is something else? Accurate reporting of drug trends? I'm not so sure ....but I'm happy to be proved wrong - it's surely got to happen one year 8) I'm thinking I'll only do the KE interview this year if I'm guaranteed the raw stats before publication - fat chance you might say....but where there's a will of transparency, there's always the possibility of a back room deal.....

mental note to self; always carry a bottle of Arnica for the many toes I'll be standing on

Seriously though, we can only hope our largest user survey catches up this year. The system needs a radical shift in approach, even if that means past comparisons can't be accurately made. No point asking about your taste in larger if only 1 out of 100 drinks beer. There at least needs to be a legal highs category.

 

[ayjay]

^yes indeed p_d; the IDRS and EDRS also only take particular slices out of the population of drug users in Australia. You are off the radar if you take a lot of drugs but don't inject or listen/dance to electronic music. I think it comes out of discourses that posit drug users as "the other" - once you start to consider the whole population as drug users I think that really fucks with the "conventional wisdom" 8)

Also, in Victoria at least, the direction that research takes is largely decided by the inclinations and experience of researchers, coupled with input from things like the Early Information of Drug Harms Project. Thing is - the EIDHP only really gathers input from services that target people who inject. I can assert fairly confidently that fuck all of their clients have taken RCs for example.

SO all the interesting details of the pursuit of pharmaceutical pleasure get left by the wayside - researchers aren't looking very hard and not always in the right places...

... but what is truth??

 

[hyroller]

Sounds good - I also partook last year, it's all for the greater good folks...

 

[who_can_say]

My two cents worth: if you read the IDRS/EDRS reports, few people each year actually specify that they have used the niche drugs like mephedrone, etc. So there is no real point to including a whole stream of questions about them. If they started reporting data on n=2 people you all here in these forums would bust their nuts. Likewise with the KE interviews; 1 person out of 20 or even 100 isn't exactly reliable data. So give the project a break, they can't do everything.

 

[ayjay]

^ hey I really enjoy IDRS/EDRS - just pointing out that they are missing a lot of drug use out there, simply by their recruiting methodology.

 

[Dave82]

People who use ecstasy? Where are they exactly, because there is no ecstasy (MDMA) going around...

 

[PsiloSubNaut]

People who use ecstasy? Where are they exactly, because there is no ecstasy (MDMA) going around...

I wouldn't say there's no MDMA.

There definitely isn't much outside very small circles at this current time...

Most partaking in pill popping today are using any number of drugs and a large percentage of them wouldn't know the difference if it turkey slapped them in the face

 

[thestudent14]

In the last 12 months there should be plenty of us blue lighters, if it said in the last 6months I'm sure there would be far less.

 

[Sustanon]

I wouldnt mind doing an interview on it. I can say that MDMA is prob of one of the many drugs i have used for quite some time and have researched the hell out of it and have been very very fortunate to have sampled some of the best/strongest MDMA pills ever made.

Just wish those days were still around altho its prob better that there isnt many mdma pills floating about otherwise id end up in rehab again for it. Using it 4 times a week for years had really bad effects including severe depression, mentally and physically drained with poor immune system and severe anger management problems.

I was young and stupid at the time but wouldnt like anyone to go through what i have with this destructive yet wonderful substance. Please be careful everyone as the outcome wont be very pretty.

 

[PsiloSubNaut]

I have unapproved the last 2 posts

Please keep discussion on topic

 

[phase_dancer]

If they started reporting data on n=2 people you all here in these forums would bust their nuts.

From feedback received from interviewers, I believe the first year 4-MMC was mentioned by me in Qld, it was followed up by users and other KE stating it's use was more common than first thought. It may have been used far less than MDMA, but statistically, it was significant IMO, particularly as what I mentioned only related to Qld. From personal communications and what was posted here, at that time use was far more prevalent in Victoria and possibly also other WA and Sydney. But we shall never know for sure now The product was being sold widely in Neorg. and related products, with local suppliers jumping on the bandwagon due to the price and the ease of obtaining the products. With the advent of any new drug, monitoring over a six month period would have assisted greatly with an early warning system. I know this is not the aim of the project, but it's certainly relevant and can only result in more accurate assessment of the user market.

Likewise with the KE interviews; 1 person out of 20 or even 100 isn't exactly reliable data. So give the project a break, they can't do everything.

No, I have to say I make no apologies, and I won't give the EDRS a break. This is the largest survey of it's kind in Aus, and undoubtedly receives a large - if not the largest - part of such funding. IMO, taxpayers always have the right to criticise and suggest where improvements could be made. Unlike others in AOD sector who I've spoken with and have similar views, I'm free from the gag most GOV and NGO employees seem to be under atm, so I don't have any risk of being sacked.

FWIW, I've spelled out my criticism at every KE interview over the past few years, from when it first became apparent the survey was becoming less and less able to meet it's objectives. For a start, where's the evidence the survey is respective of mainstream drug users? Users are rounded up through networks, KEs, and promoting in places like this. What about the many users who aren't contactable through these channels or don't want to be - some might argue, more typical Australians - and how does the survey account for those who don't tell, refuse to be interviewed or lie about certain details for fear of repercussions? User rejection to offers of being interviewed should definitely be factored in. That number has undoubtedly soared over recent years, and is well reflected in the intervention stats our group has - which date back to 1999 I might add.

In past years, there have been many statistically relevant variables not accounted for with this study. There's also other issues such as not all the information gathered being used in the study but in the interests of preserving worth, I won't go into detail here, except to say it's certainly not widely known.

who_can_say, you seem to have some knowledge of things in regards to the EDRS/ IDRS. So, how about showing us how collection methods, new and emerging variables, and data interpretation has been altered to reflect these and other changes which affect validity of outcomes. I'll then quite happily retreat to the back corner.

 

[who_can_say]

I know this is not the aim of the project

And there we go. You know something may not be the aim of the project but you still attack it.

For a start, where's the evidence the survey is respective of mainstream drug users?

They state that this is not the purpose of the survey. So why do people continue to attack it that it's not representative of every person who has ever taken a drug?

If people don't like the surveys, why don't they start their own? Put up an internet survey (you can do that free) and go for gold.

 

[phase_dancer]

Have done so in the past, in relation to the neorg. products. All going well the results will be published in the near future.

 

[Proxii]

Count me in