Recruiting [UK] Impact of Coronavirus on Drug Purchases Survey (ongoing survey)

Tronica

Tronica

Executive Director
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Messages
5,236
Location
Castlemaine, Australia
Release is a UK charity with the following mission: "Release believes in a just and fair society where drug policies should reduce the harms associated with drugs, and where those who use drugs are treated based on principles of human rights, dignity and equality". Release has launched the following survey and has asked Bluelight to promote it. Note that it is not a university-led research project, and therefore has not received ethics approvals through those channels. I've done my own review of the survey and the questions, and I'm confident there is neglible risk in participating, and also confident that the information will be put to good use through this charity and their connections with others in the drug law reform space. Please consider participating if you are in the UK!

The purpose of this survey is to monitor changes in the UK’s drug supply – and how people buy their drugs – that may arise following lockdown restrictions because of coronavirus.

This is a confidential survey. Your data is anonymous, so we will not be able to tell who you are and we do not ask you for identifiable information. (But we do ask for your age, gender, your occupation.)

We will ask questions about a recent drug purchase, including its date, location (UK region), drug type, price, and quantity; how you think buying may be different compared to your purchases before the virus (things like difficulty of finding products and sellers, changes in product quality, price, weight), and whether you sourced from the darknet.

How we will use the information you give us. The answers from the many people in the UK who take part in this survey will be collected into a dataset and stored securely. Release will use the results to help us better understand how the UK’s drug supplies may be changing as a result of coronavirus. Knowing this is important for the work that Release does in providing free non-judgmental, specialist advice and information to the public and professionals on issues related to drug use and to drug laws. We will share the dataset with expert drug researchers from UK universities who will further analyse the data and publish scientific papers about the results.

The survey should take about 5-6 minutes to complete.

If you are interested in knowing more about our research, then please get in touch with Niamh Eastwood at [email protected].

This is a voluntary survey and you are under no obligation to take part. However, if you are willing to participate, you must: Be over the age of 18 AND live in the UK
Click to expand...

SURVEY LINK! https://www.release.org.uk/coronavirus-drug-purchases-impact-survey

Edit: update in 2024.
This study published an interim report, but is collecting ongoing data about drug markets in the UK.
Read interim report (PDF)
 
Last edited:
Bus%20image.png


and that's a no brainer<3
 
Tronica said:
Release is a UK charity with the following mission: "Release believes in a just and fair society where drug policies should reduce the harms associated with drugs, and where those who use drugs are treated based on principles of human rights, dignity and equality". Release has launched the following survey and has asked Bluelight to promote it. Note that it is not a university-led research project, and therefore has not received ethics approvals through those channels. I've done my own review of the survey and the questions, and I'm confident there is neglible risk in participating, and also confident that the information will be put to good use through this charity and their connections with others in the drug law reform space. Please consider participating if you are in the UK!



SURVEY LINK! https://www.release.org.uk/coronavirus-drug-purchases-impact-survey
Click to expand...

I can't say I understand what the obsession with COVID is in the research, is it just grants available or something? Yes, the market has changed during that period but I doubt COVID mattered much and its one variable. Benzo/Z-Drugs/Prescription Drugs supply for instance has been impacted mainly because it once consisted of a large amount of redirected legit product but is now highly faked, variably dosed and often does not contain what is advertised. Etizolam was once plentiful and easily available but since India banned it's export it has almost vanished. If you do an analysis on a market based on a univariant study of a drug market based on COVID the results are going to be garbage. There are many, many other factors affecting the market over 2020-2024.
 
sadasaulna said:
I can't say I understand what the obsession with COVID is in the research, is it just grants available or something? Yes, the market has changed during that period but I doubt COVID mattered much and its one variable. Benzo/Z-Drugs/Prescription Drugs supply for instance has been impacted mainly because it once consisted of a large amount of redirected legit product but is now highly faked, variably dosed and often does not contain what is advertised. Etizolam was once plentiful and easily available but since India banned it's export it has almost vanished. If you do an analysis on a market based on a univariant study of a drug market based on COVID the results are going to be garbage. There are many, many other factors affecting the market over 2020-2024.
Click to expand...
Covid affected so many dynamics that could alter substance production, distribution and consumption. Its effects were massive and widespread. How many effects does a widespread global lockdown have on production, distribution and use of controlled substances? With a world economy we see all can be highly influenced by dynamics affected by the pandemic and responses to it. I believe the pandemic ended up significantly effecting the production and distribution of cocaine from one of the major boom production areas.

here is related news about how covid affected the cocaine trade and what is happening after..

news.un.org

Cocaine trafficking surges following COVID-19-related slowdown

Routed through new hubs and expanded criminal networks, cocaine trafficking has made a dramatic comeback following an initial slowdown caused by the emergence of COVID-19, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said on Thursday in a hard-hitting new report.
news.un.org news.un.org
 
Last edited:
sadasaulna said:
I can't say I understand what the obsession with COVID is in the research, is it just grants available or something? Yes, the market has changed during that period but I doubt COVID mattered much and its one variable. Benzo/Z-Drugs/Prescription Drugs supply for instance has been impacted mainly because it once consisted of a large amount of redirected legit product but is now highly faked, variably dosed and often does not contain what is advertised. Etizolam was once plentiful and easily available but since India banned it's export it has almost vanished. If you do an analysis on a market based on a univariant study of a drug market based on COVID the results are going to be garbage. There are many, many other factors affecting the market over 2020-2024.
Click to expand...
In 2020 and 2021, a lot of researchers became obsessed with the pandemic, because it felt like our lives were being turned upside down by it (which really, they were, especially in places that completely locked down their entire population) - as such, many of us researched the effects of the pandemic on drug use and drug markets. And it certainly did have effects, although mostly temporary ones.

I agree that in 2024, it feels a bit weird even focusing on it and perhaps that's because we don't want to think about it anymore, even though COVID-19 the virus has not in any way disappeared.

(Note that this study was from that era!)
 
Fair play, I hadn't looked at the date, but responded to a more recent 2024 Coronavirus Study. I'm interested in working with studies if they genuinely want to understand responsible drug use rather than demonize it or find metadata to break online supplies so I'd been browsing the studies.

I'm still wondering what effects the pandemic had. As far as I remember goods were flowing because we had this weird separation between what have been called the "laptop class" and everyone else. I used to work since I was involved in running a large internet network before my breakdown so had I been in the pandemic during that period my presence at work would have been mandatory. I might have been forced to take a vaccine against my will or lose my job because I would have been required to attend worksites. I'm a flightradar fan and while consumer flights disappeared freight was still shipping.

But I continue to say - there were so many factors affecting the market in those years - even in 2020-2021 - that were completely unrelated to the Pandemic and focusing on a univariant is garbage in/garbage out. Any analysis of the market has to take into account many, many political factors - law changes in the countries of production/transfer/packaging and reception, new capture/interception methods, seizure operations, geopolitical changes between countries of supply like sanctions or political pressures and many many more.

Lets not forget the media furor after the fake Xanax craze. Etizolam was demonized as satans own asshole. We'd had it on the back of the 2016 Psychoactive Substances Act in the UK aimed squarely at the RCs which were briefly legal in the UK as a way to evade customs. But during the period it was not unusual to buy prescription Class C and B meds online complete with a box, patient information leaflet and braille instructions on the box. Legit diverted product. No faker I know went to such lengths. None of this just "here's a blister pack, it must be legit because it didn't come in a baggy of chalky pills" nonsense.

It was UK drug policy and crackdowns that changed the market (for the worse) in a major way, the pandemic's limited effects were that people maybe turned to online markets. But let's face it, if you meet a street dealer to buy illegal drugs, were you really worried about breaking pandemic lockdown rules? I doubt it was your most pressing concern if you were a heroin addict.

Sorry if I seem focused on the UK (its where I'm from) but I bought drugs online before, through and after the pandemic and nothing that changed in the market seemed remotely connected to the pandemic, but highly related to changes in Law in various countries. The fact that branded etizolam is so hard to come by is not a pandemic effect is was created by India's ban on export. All the branded Etizolam I could buy at the time were from of Indian origin. Political changes and drug crackdowns change markets, not a nasty virus. I'm mainly a benzo consumer and going from WEDINOS reports I see that Bromazolam has become the D.O.C. for the fakers. I doubt the pandemic affected that one bit. I can remember *during* the pandemic finding a site selling many potent RCs from China by the kilos, enough to press millions of doses in some cases for a few thousand pounds outlay. Can't say I'm an expert on the RC market anymore, but I'm guessing Bromazolam is cheap and available in large quantities given its huge effect on the Benzo market currently. I don't know where its being shipped from, you could get any RC you liked in huge quantities from China a few years back but maybe the Chinese gov cracked down. We even had some top legit Alprazolam coming from Iran. I'm guessing its pretty hard to find legit drugs from Iran anymore.

I remain highly skeptical of such studies and it underscores for me that funding is directed by initiatives of well funded state actors that every grant seeking org will run with and forget the ethics or scientific rigor it keeps you in a cushy job. I've volunteered with charities so I know how shallow the funding drive is. I used to volunteer with an org that the repaired people's bikes for free and sold repaired bikes for pennies on the pound. It has one full time employee + free volunteers but the council killed his job despite its positive impact on his impoverished community because it saved £25K/yr

That guy still works in bike repair, under a new charity. They get their funding from a climate change org. The leadership are fundamentally and utterly clueless about bicycles or bicycle repair. They exist because they got funding from some climate fund. Total shit show, but the guy who does the actual work is still the same clued up individual.

(yes, I'm a cynical bastard).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top