Published Use of new drugs in Canada!

Tronica

Tronica

Executive Director
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Messages
5,236
Location
Castlemaine, Australia
If you are Canadian and have tried a new drug, please complete this survey. Environics have made a significant donation to keep Bluelight running!

Enivironics message to you is below:

Hello

My name is Sarah Roberton from the research firm Environics in Ottawa. We’re conducting a research study about experiences with new psychoactive substances, or NPS. It's open to any Canadian resident 18 or older who has used a NPS in Canada at any point in the past.

Health Canada has designed a questionnaire that they intend to use in the future in a range of contexts and we are looking for feedback on the appropriateness, completeness and clarity of the survey instrument. The entire process should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete - there are a few screening questions, followed by the main survey, and then a few follow-up questions about the survey itself: how easy it was to understand and complete, how clearly the terms were explained, etc.

This study is completely confidential (no identifying information is requested at any time in the survey) and it is being done on behalf of, and funded by, Health Canada. No ethical review is required for this type of research. We have made a substantial donation to Bluelight in recognition of their assistance with this research project. This study begins on the 6th of October 2017 and will run until the end of November.

THE SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED

I can be contacted at [email protected] or via the Bluelight private messaging system.

Thank you for your assistance with this important research project, and we hope to hear from you.

Sarah Roberton
 
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Please help Environics allow Health Canada to legislatively handcuff its citizen's

Thanks for the cash kickback incentive Sarah!
Canada loves Bluelight...it keeps many alive with amazing harm reduction resources.

Let's criminalize everything and see how well prohibition works...hmmmm..

What is the exact amount of your altruistic donation as a % of your bill to Health Canada for your contract.
Have you thought about donating to INSITE? Heard of it?
curiously, skeptical.


Tronica said:
If you are Canadian and have tried a new drug, please complete this survey. Environics have made a significant donation to keep Bluelight running!

Enivironics message to you is below:

Hello

My name is Sarah Roberton from the research firm Environics in Ottawa. We’re conducting a research study about experiences with new psychoactive substances, or NPS. It's open to any Canadian resident 18 or older who has used a NPS in Canada at any point in the past.

Health Canada has designed a questionnaire that they intend to use in the future in a range of contexts and we are looking for feedback...sic

Sarah Roberton
Click to expand...
 
D.pharm said:
What is the exact amount of your altruistic donation as a % of your bill to Health Canada for your contract.
Click to expand...

I cannot say what % it is of the total contract, I can say that it is a significant donation to our site, helping us remain free of ads, etc. As usual you are free to participate in the research or not, but we do hope that eligible people will consider the research offer, and ideally support it if they can. And let us know any feedback on the survey itself in this thread. Thanks.
 
Hello,

The goal of the questionnaire is to monitor patterns of NPS use, to inform harm reduction strategies. Your comment has been passed on to Health Canada and their response is as follows:

“Canada’s support for harm reduction as a pillar of the drug strategy and the request that the voice and needs of people with lived and living experience be included into our evidence base are the essential drivers of the development of the current study. I hope you will join your voice with ours.”
The amount of the donation was determined based on discussions with the Bluelight site administrators.

Thank you,

Sarah
 
The study is on behalf of a Canadian government agency. It'd be a real surprise if the FDA/DEA were to sanction a study like this, I don't think they like anything that can be seen as even tangentially promoting drug usage.
 
This study is being done for Health Canada, the arm of the government that can ban substances on a whim. If they are asking NPS users what drugs they are using, it is not unlikely that they will use this info to decide what to ban next.
 
S.J.P. said:
This study is being done for Health Canada, the arm of the government that can ban substances on a whim. If they are asking NPS users what drugs they are using, it is not unlikely that they will use this info to decide what to ban next.
Click to expand...

I don't know Canadian politics, but don't you guys have a new government that is liberalising cannabis and might have some different views on drugs than the previous lot? Has there been discussions about new ways of dealing with NPS in Canada? Genuinely curious, thanks.
 
Tronica said:
I don't know Canadian politics, but don't you guys have a new government that is liberalising cannabis and might have some different views on drugs than the previous lot? Has there been discussions about new ways of dealing with NPS in Canada? Genuinely curious, thanks.
Click to expand...

NPS are not really part of the political discussion at all, outside of fentanyl analogues (due to their implication in the recent increase in opioid-related poisoning deaths). Unfortunately, Health Canada has continued to ban substances at a similar pace (I would wager it's actually increased) since the latest government came to power. Perhaps the most significant ban in recent memory, covering most of the 2C phenethylamines, took place since then.
 
I cannot get past the second question as it hangs on age confirmation. I've attempted logging from different devices on several occasions. Has anyone actually done the questionnaire successfully?
 
Yourbaker said:
I cannot get past the second question as it hangs on age confirmation. I've attempted logging from different devices on several occasions. Has anyone actually done the questionnaire successfully?
Click to expand...

Hello Yourbaker,

I'm sorry you are having trouble accessing the survey. One suggestion would be to check to see if javascript is enabled, if it is not, it will need to be enabled. If that doesn't allow you to access the survey, please send any specific information that you can about the platform/browsers you tried and the date/time you had the issue to [email protected] . We will work with our tech team to work out whatever the problem is.

Thank you very much for your interest in the study.

Sarah
 
This survey could've been FAR better in my opinion.

Why waste this opportunity by asking about ONE substance, when people recruited from Bluelight could provide a far more comprehensive evaluation of "new psychoactive substances"?

As someone with experience with dozens of NPS over more than a decade, to be asked about only one substance, and only the most recent use is frustratingly limited.
 
S.J.P. said:
NPS are not really part of the political discussion at all, outside of fentanyl analogues (due to their implication in the recent increase in opioid-related poisoning deaths). Unfortunately, Health Canada has continued to ban substances at a similar pace (I would wager it's actually increased) since the latest government came to power. Perhaps the most significant ban in recent memory, covering most of the 2C phenethylamines, took place since then.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's fucked up. Bluelight taking money from people who support and are advancing prohibition. What the fuck??
 
Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our survey.

So far, we have received surveys about new tryptamines (e.g. 4-Aco-DMT; 4-AcO-MET; 4-HO-MET; 4-ho-Mipt; 5-MeO-MiPT), phenethylamines (e.g. 25I-NBOME; 2C-C; 2c-t-7; 6-APB) including cathinones (e.g. bath salts); new derivatives of LSD, cannabis, opioids and diverse dissociatives. If you have used a NPS (whether or not it’s on this list) and live in Canada, but have not yet participated, the survey remains open and we would like to hear from you.

Sarah Roberton
Environics Research
 
Just joined Bluelight and I'm happy to help contribute to the study of NPS and other psychoactive substances! As I've only ever tried one NPS in the past, the survey was very easy to use and was quite quick.
 
I wish I didn't do this survey. If this leads to any more chemicals being banned here in Canada I want no part of it. What S.J.P. said has kind of made me worried.
 
e1evene1even said:
This survey could've been FAR better in my opinion.

Why waste this opportunity by asking about ONE substance, when people recruited from Bluelight could provide a far more comprehensive evaluation of "new psychoactive substances"?

As someone with experience with dozens of NPS over more than a decade, to be asked about only one substance, and only the most recent use is frustratingly limited.
Click to expand...

While I don't know the reason that these researchers made this decision, as someone who writes surveys on drug taking myself, my guess is that most people who complete these surveys are only going to devote X amount of time. e.g. 15 minutes. Most people won't be prepared to give 30 or 45 or 60 minutes. Only the most committed people will go that far. So I think you are one of those more committed types. I would think that this survey was designed to be not as onerous - because if you ask people to describe every single NPS... it's a long survey for many!

Also, there's a known issue with recalling details from a long time ago, so the most 'recent time', especially if that time is in the last 12 months, is going to be more accurate.
 
RDP89 said:
Wow, that's fucked up. Bluelight taking money from people who support and are advancing prohibition. What the fuck??
Click to expand...

Hi RDP89. Bluelight keeps its lights on by taking donations from people who want to advertise to our community. But we only do this selectively, that's why you don't see flashy ads for sex aids or similar on Bluelight. (We do really get requests to advertise all kinds of stuff!).

Our process (which I'm directly in charge of) is to work out what the organisation is (their history and other things they do), look at the quality of the study (appropriateness of research questions and design), and then go from there in negotiating support from the research partner for Bluelight.

Bluelight can't judge what the partner (in this case, Environics) is going to go with this information (or their funder, Health Canada). But to give some perspective, my job at my university is funded through Australia's version of Health Canada, the National Health and Medical Research Council. They are responsible for many health related issues, not all that I agree with, but I'm still going to accept their kind offer of a 4-year fellowship to do my research. Likewise I think we (Bluelight) can accept donations from governments and industry and universities, without compromising what we stand for as a community.

That's my view and I am interested in yours and others views - however, the question we face is not do we or don't we take donations from specific organisations, but rather, how do we best support the running costs of Bluelight? If there are alternatives that are just as good, or easier, then feel free to let us know.
 
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