Visualization of drug groups and drug use as reported by Bluelighters

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virostatiq

Greenlighter
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
10
Hi all,

maybe you would find this article interesting: http://virostatiq.com/visualizing-drug-talk-on-bluelight-ru/

I analyzed all posts in all forums from 2010 on, extracted mentions of drugs and their effects from raw text, and constructed a few diagrams that nicely show drug groups according to forum dynamics. One also shows what to expect when taking specific drugs, according to forum members. It's essentially a cheat sheet for a serious drug user.
You can also explore ebb and flow of drug use with an interactive chart.

drugs_diagram.png


I hope you like it. It's far from perfect, so don't flame me too much. I had much fun putting it together.

Best,

Marko
 
Last edited:
Yes, very nice, virostatiq. Thank you for putting it together!

A couple of suggestions:

Maybe include more pharmaceuticals in the time/discussion graph. For instance, viewing Wellbutrin alongside tobacco might be interesting.

Also, why not use SVGs for the circle infographics? Might be easier than loading/tiling different scales of raster images, not to mention loading times would be much faster for those of us still living in the 1990s :)
 
I would have never expected classical stimulants, caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol to have cohered into a single category. Quite a remarkable finding.

ebola
 
Thanks for kind replies here and on the site! That makes it worth it. As I wrote, I may revisit this theme in the future, so I may be back here with an update.
Thanks again!!!
 
This is amazing work! I am totally impressed!

I'm also somewhat unsurprised that MDMA is the most mentioned.
 
ebola? said:
I would have never expected classical stimulants, caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol to have cohered into a single category. Quite a remarkable finding.

ebola
Click to expand...

Actually my network analysis software (Gephi) allows for indirectly setting group sizes. I manually adjusted the sizes until I got a sensible output. It would also be very easy to partition the drugs into uppers and downers only. If anyone is interested in the .gephi file to play with on your ownselves, I can upload it somewhere and post short instructions.
 
Fantastic. Wish I could put it all in a syringe and make it do a pole dance in my brain!
 
Thanks. I'm actually a longtime Bluelight user, but I usually read it for more practical reasons - I never posted. I was also a moderator at another harm-reduction board years ago. So yes, I'll stick around. :)
 
It's good but can i ask why in the first pic (with the circles) you have some that are classes of drugs and others of drugs themselves.. I don't see how LSD can b talked about more than hallucinogens when it is one :\

And I hate the terms "bath salts" and "plant food" :p
 
I just went through the entire article. Really astonishing stuff. You must be a statistician or something closely related.
 
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