Bluelight.org

At Bluelight.org we encourage collaborative partnerships between academic researchers and our community. In 2016 we were approached by Liam Engel with a proposal to utilise data from Bluelight for his PhD, using an engaged and participatory approach. Liam is now Dr Engel (well done!) and we are thrilled to announce research from our collaboration has been published in the journal Addiction Research and Theory.

Abstract:

People who use drugs understand drugs and drug use in ways that are often different to the way knowledge of drug use is constructed within the dominant medico-legal discourse. Their experiences are, more often than not, represented in negative ways within dominant discourse, a disconnect that can create adverse consequences for people who use drugs, through the production of stigma and shame leading to poor health and social outcomes. A key difference in how drugs are understood by people who use drugs is the capacity of the former to recognize positive aspects...

A study titled 'Cannabis as entheogen: survey and interview data on the spiritual use of cannabis' was recently published in the Open Access 'Journal of Cannabis Research'. The Bluelight community contributed to the survey, along with other online communities, including the Shroomery and DMT Nexus.

Abstract:

This article uses qualitative interviews and quantitative survey data to explore spiritually motivated use of cannabis. Of 265 survey participants who reported their motivations for cannabis use, 25% indicated a spiritual motivation (the corresponding figure for psychedelics was 69% ). These spiritual cannabis users reported experiences with cannabis that, at least in some ways, tended to resemble experiences with psychedelics. In interviews, spiritually motivated cannabis users often emphasized that overuse would diminish the impact of the cannabis experience, which supports previous research that has identified a build-up of tolerance to the effects of cannabis. Some...

Bluelight Research on Ketamine as a Treatment for Depression and PTSD

Bluelight would like to congratulate Tharcila Chaves and her colleagues on their recent publication: The use of ketamine to cope with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder: A qualitative analysis of the discourses posted on a popular online forum. The paper was published in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

The abstract is quoted below:

Background
Because of the shortcomings of traditional pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there has been growing interest in the rapid mood-enhancing effect of ketamine.

Objectives
To analyze what has been posted about ketamine use for dealing with self-reported depression and/or PTSD on one of the biggest international message boards on the internet.

Methods
Qualitative study with online observation of threaded discussions on Bluelight. In-depth online searches were conducted in 2018. Twenty-nine...

Hi Bluelighters! Want to find out the latest info about the COVID-19 epidemic, discuss how it affects the lives of those who use drugs, read the experience of others who have had the virus, or vent about how the virus or the measures enacted to combat it have affected you? During the pandemic, we will be regularly updating this handy listing of COVID-19-related threads that can be found throughout the forum:

Basic Drug Discussion

[Opioids] Oxycodone for Coronavirus, will Oxy ease any of the symptoms? (Mar. 19)
[Heroin] Covid-19 What about the junkies? (Mar. 20)
Has Covid-19 affected drug supply/anything drug related in your community? (Mar. 21)


Cannabis Discussion

Cannabis use and COVID-19. (Mar. 29)
Lawmakers push congressional leaders to include marijuana businesses in coronavirus relief bill (Apr. 23)


Sports & Image Enhancing Drugs

The Official SIED Coronavirus Thread v. My Nuts & City is shutdown (Mar. 18 )
If I catch Corona should I stop taking AAS? (Mar. 22)
Corona...

Over the past 6mo of 2019, we saw an incredible growth in the size of our database, far outpacing anything in our 20y history. While we might initially say "YAY! We are growing and really active!!!" this is not entirely true. It is partly true, and we'll bump the stats thread with that bit. But this is not site traffic, this is the SIZE of our database. We've identified that is tied to the ability to upload attachments in some parts of the site. As such, we are switching off the ability to upload attachments. If you need to share a picture, please get it hosted somewhere and use the image linking that is available. We're sorry for the inconvenience, but this is necessary to keep the database manageable. Thank you.

It has now been 19 years since Bluelight first went “black,” in remembrance of one of our members. Ryan Haight, who many knew as “Quicksilver,” was an exceptional young man and a friend to many here at Bluelight. He was not the first loss this community suffered, and sadly, he has not been the last. It’s for this reason that we take this day each year as a solemn opportunity to remember all whom we’ve lost and reflect on our mission of harm reduction.

Over these past 19 years we’ve watched the world transform in the wake of the opioid epidemic. Few families can now say they have not been impacted in one way or another. As a result, society and medicine have increasingly rejected outdated stereotypes and misperceptions around drugs, drug use, addiction and overdose. As a community we feel our mission is as critical and timely as ever.

Whether you’re a longtime member or new to our community, Bluelight invites you to be part of this important ongoing dialog. We do not...

I LIKE THAT!

Bluelight continues to add new features to the site in an effort to make the site a richer community experience for all of you. As such we are introducing a new feature that you are used to on many other social sites - the LIKE. Or, more broadly, we are launching reactions to posts as shown below. To give a reactions, simply click on the "Like" in the bottom right of a post, and to remove or change it you can tap on it again.



What does it mean?

In this image, area 1 shows you a post awaiting some reaction (like) and a post with a 'Like' reaction. Area 2 shows you, once you click on a user, their profile now includes their cumulative reaction score. Area 3 does not give you the reaction score, you would have to look at the profile info in 2.



If you wish to remove a reaction you gave to a post, simply tap on it a second time and it is removed if you are using your phone. For desktop, if you hover over the reaction, it will popup with all available...

One feature many users came to love over the years was a BLOG, or personal journal, whereby they could keep a diary of sorts for their friends to know what they are up to and provide feedback more personally than in a public forum thread. We have imported all the old BLOG entries from the old site and gotten them working in our new Xenforo system. There is now a link to BLOGS on the top navbar for quick access, and the BLOGS are open for new personal postings and replies! The same BLUA rules govern BLOGS and we do have dedicated staff to moderate that section of the board (Hi Mel22! ? ). We encourage all members to go check it out!

Howdy all,

This is an article from Vice discussing the prominent role Bluelight has played among the online harm reduction community over the last 20 years. The article details a little bit of the site's history, and includes some awesome contributions from our valuable members. Please read it and share it with anyone you think might be interested in it

Firstly, a big thank-you to the author, Sam Nichols, for an interesting and well-written piece; secondly to the members who contributed valuable time and insight- and last, but not least, a HUGE THANKYOU to all of our members past and present who are the lifeblood of this place- without you all, Bluelight would never have thrived for as long as it has. In the face of pretty overwhelming 'competition', 20 years is pretty astounding- let's hope for thousands more!


How ‘Bluelight’ Became a Life-Saving Encyclopedia of Drug Info

The internet's largest forum for drug discussion started life in the 90s as a message board...