This is a looooong massive post/ half part soap box rant/ half part questions- but what a wonderful opportunity...
First off, it's pretty impressive that the mods of this forum are so functional and user friendly that they are willing to inquire and give feedback about how fellow BL's feel about resurging the mission statement of OD forum. Seriously, cheers. It shows a maturity that I would say the internet/blogs/the fucking whole world is lacking as a whole.
I dig the redirection, immensely of OD. The majority of my posts I feel like I am reminding people of the inherent dangers of our hobby and that negative , dangerous, reactions are lurking around the corner. I don't feel like it's my job, I don't get off on telling people the bad things THAT COULD happen to them like a parent, I just feel like people stop fucking thinking that this hobby/ experimentation is more pathophysiologically involving than say, coin collecting. and I hate getting flamed for it.
I always seem to get flamed on fentanyl and adderall posts the most. Especially fent though. I always get accused of being judgemental, and I'm not. Its almost like there is a competition- sort of like bulimics vs. the anorexics. Like who does the most, whose habit is worse, whose got the most experience- and I always run into this argument: using a lot of drug does not equate to safe, accurate, or reliable medical knowledge or sound advice. You mods are generally exceptional at providing info that is truly harm reduction but even you guys give out advice that is not sound and based solely on your impressive experiences. For whatever reason competition develops, often nasty, amongst BL'r, mods, about who has the best information from experience (and also I think whatever info appeals to the OP more to their needs and not necessarily to safety). And that is dangerous. But I ask the question again- is the number of experiences what makes you the shit on OD? Or is it sound advice? I truly don't know. I won't ever fuck with fentanyl unless its in a vial and I have a 3ml syringe. I mean I wouldn't anyway- but goddamn- stop trying to help people get the most out of patches. It is just too dangerous. Yes I know people will do it anyway but how accurately are people able to follow your directions? as mods you should be reminding people that your margin for error with fent is EXTREMELY small. Virtually immesuruably small. Don't advise people on anything but the inherent dangers of playing with the patches. What is safe about it? There is no safe practice for abusing fent patches.
Is BL responsible for people ill-informing each other when questions arise about drug usage? Are the mods legally, ethical, morally responsible when people are giving advice off the top of their head because it "sounds like a good idea" or "I saw that that worked on another thread"? Not sure- but you sure as shit are responsible when you moderate comments on working the fent patches. Just have a faq section only on fent patches.
When I worked in the ER I would see people on a weekly basis who assumed even if the patch has solid material inside then they can just plop it into a pipe and toke away. And about twice a week I would see OD's from people smoking gel. I have never seen a person OD from a vial of fentanyl.
2 weeks ago I got up at seven AM before I had to go to work- checked out BL and the followign scenario presented and I had to look at it like a RN, not as a drug hobbyist or truthfully, user. According to the post I assessed as follows "Pt is tachycardic, hypertensive, diaphoretic after using unspecified amount of cocaine on binge for two days. He states his BP is "160", he is reporting shortness of breath. He states he briefly was able to sleep but woke up in HTN (hypertensive) condition. He has found medication in his family members medicine cabinet and is trying to find a way to safely slow down his heart. One of the medications will help (beta blocker) and while not indicated for cocaine withdrawal would have positive side effects. The other drug is a diuretic which will more than likely put the pt into a life threatening electrolyte and cardiovascular disturbance which would easily cause death".
I tried to convey this in my posts, my message was not heard because the Bl'er kept obsessing about his fucking BP. He just wasn't hearing me. The other advice being given to him from another BL'er was "yeah go for it, I've heard that beta blockers help when you are coming down and you need to come down." The OP least concern was the doase of BB to take. Like, that's not harm reduction. That's taking recklessness and switching it with stupidity. No mod was present, probably sleeping like normal people. For some reason the consensus on OD doesn't seem to be, "Stop taking drugs if you don't know what they are, and especially if you don't know the appropriate dosage range" i.e. fentanyl. It's more like "I did this and this worked and if you say I shouldn't be doing it at all than you are a flaming prick." I think in this instance I just came across as snooty and melodramatic. I'm sorry but that dude could have easily died! BL'rs were just trying to validate if the combo of drugs would work. Clearly, striking a balance between drug exploration/habituation and harm reduction is very difficult indeed. And occassionally, I do see mods get off target. Sometimes it is almost as if the mods are their to validate if what the OP is posting would work chemically as opposed to , "what is the intent of this question being asked?" Most of the time you guys are awesome about stopping mischevous posts in their tracks.
I'm guilty of the hobbyist viewpoint as well though. I mean the potentiation threads- that's seriously about getting high. Hands down. And it is fascinating- ironically has really helped me understand pharmacology far more in depth than most of my colleagues. But what harm reduction purpose does it serve for your average enthusiast? Somebody asked a couple of weeks ago if anybody has OD'd from too much potentiation. I was kind of stunned, like how much more could you miss the the point, people die from taking too much of a drug that kills them.
I'm about to begin experimentation with poppy pod tea. I need to hear about the good times/bad times/ filtering processes that people have had. I don't want to OD myself. It is harm reduction, for people to talk about how high they get on PPT. I compile all that information an form a baseline opinion on how to safely indulge. Even down to the chemical level. But it seems like people like the chemistry nerds don't need the harm reduction, nor people heavily interested into details. Its the user who has randomly decided to mix medications based on even more random gleamings from posts that indicated the combo would work.
My major complaint toward the Mods is that you guys come across as the final correct answer for the chemical solution, but not as the voice of reason.
Chimpo-you are already an excellent moderator-but I feel like a lot of the time your motivation is more authoritative and one-upman's ship. I don't mean any disrespect. But tonight I read your post on "any young people getting scripted ambien". You said, "Not ambien here, but I'm young and I've gotten plenty of benzos and other things of that nature. Like someone above said, find more liberal (less strict) doctor." But the OP said "My schedule is constantly getting fucked up because I can't, or am not willing to try and fall asleep. If I had a pill I'd look forward to going to sleep." Not harm reduction. Ambien does not give the will to look foward to falling asleep. I think the OP's question was honest, she has insomnia secondary to stress. As an RN, we teach stress reduction before prescription. Does it work, I don't fucking know, but advising a kid to doctor shop isn't harm reduction. Chimpo, I don't mean to single you out or anything-and again afew weeks you re-directed me to the dark side which has proven to be an invaluable resource. Wish more OD'ers knkw about it. But I'm not sure why discussing the wretchedness of abuse is not as prevalent as the 5 million ways to take opiates.
Okay so this is waaay to long- I really appreciate the forum to pontificate, and I do want to thank you guys for your long hours and thoughtfullness. I know that working as mods for BL has made you millionares, but it is an incredible service you guys provide 99.9% of the time.
