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


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! :p:alien:


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 called "MDMA Clearinghouse."

1557115117962-Bluelight_Lead.jpeg

Image by Kristopher McDuff

Alex* was a teenager when he first tried drugs. Like many people, he started with weed, before working his way up to LSD. He says his early experiences were nearly always positive—until in 2013 he accidentally bought 100 hits of 25i-NBOMe thinking it was acid. 25i-NBOMe, or just “NBOMe” for short, is a synthetic psychedelic known for inducing powerful hallucinations and, in some cases, fatal blood clots. The drug has been blamed for a handful of fatalities, but in all cases users describe a nightmarishly intense trip, which is what Alex went through.

Alex survived, but decided that if he was to continue experimenting with drugs he’d need more information. And that's how he stumbled upon the user-run drug-discussion forum Bluelight. He describes finding Bluelight as a game-changer. At a time when the bulk of sites framed their drug information around fear, Bluelight was the only site to give scientific answers without stigma. Suddenly, he and his friends were able to read up on specific batches of specific drugs before buying—an experience now repeated by 430,000 of Bluelight’s members around the globe. Over 22 years these members have amassed almost 350,000 threads, which is a remarkable achievement for a site that started as a simple message board.

The site that would eventually become Bluelight started life in 1997 as “MDMA Clearinghouse.” The message board’s stated purpose was to promote safety and awareness around party drugs, and quickly drew a dedicated following. One such member was a young guy from Melbourne named Johnboy, who was one of the site's first moderators and has been running the Bluelight off-shoot site pillreports.net since 2001. Like Alex, he came to the message board looking for safety information and became immersed. “I’d never been part of any communities before, to be honest. I just felt it was the right thing to do," the now-46-year-old recalls. "I was fascinated by the subject, and I was fascinated by what was going on with it.”

Although there were other forums such as Erowid and Alt.drugs at the time, MDMA Clearinghouse had created something new: a platform for anyone to openly discuss drug use, while at the same time strictly banning any talk about sourcing or selling—a policy still enforced to this day. “Bluelight stepped into that gap, and that’s why it became so big so quickly," explains Johnboy. "It became that place where people could share that information. There wasn’t really too much else out there at the time.”

This niche proved to be a success, with 200 to 300 members joining between 1998 and 1999. But the site’s servers were only able to store a few threads at any given time, leading to an upgrade in 1999 and the new domain name “Bluelight.nu.” By the following year the site boasted almost 7000 registered members.

“With ecstasy coming to the club scene and exploding, it drove hundreds, like myself, online to find out about this stuff,” explains TheLoveBandit, one of Bluelight’s current co-owners who joined back in 2000. "Because [Bluelight] was MDMA focused, it was the one light in the darkness, so to speak.”

It’s important to note that Bluelight was, and still is, an ad-free forum managed by volunteers. Which is why by the end of the 90s site maintenance costs were oscillating between $300 and $1,200 a month, which necessitated more serious financing. Thankfully Alan Woods, the Australian mathematician and professional gambler known for philanthropy and a fondness for ecstasy, joined Bluelight in 1999 and began bankrolling the operation. This kept the site afloat through its early years, until Alan’s death.

By the time Alan died in 2008, Bluelight had developed a large team of committed moderators, along with a member base of over 80,000. From this pool they crowdsourced funds to keep the lights on, and began collaborating with other harm-reduction communities such as reagent test supplier EZ-Test and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. There’s now even some cross-pollination between Bluelight and the broader scientific community, as highlighted on the site’s Drug Studies sub-forum.

These days Bluelight isn’t the only drugs-dedicated forum, but it remains the largest. And the secret to its ongoing relevance, according to users, is its culture of inclusivity.

“I joined because I felt a connection with the type of users that were posting here," says Moe*, a member who joined in back in 2009. "I couldn't talk about drugs with some of my best friends. But I found subjects that were taboo to my real life were discussed simply on Bluelight without shaming.”

Bluelight doesn’t just stick discussions about drugs either. Alongside weekly highlights from the pharmaceutical industry, there's a range of threads that address broader topics such as overdoses, addiction, and relapses. This wide scope means Bluelight is not simply a platform for people interested in recreational pharmacology, but for anyone interested in drugs as a cultural phenomenon.

Another point of difference is in Bluelight's diverse range of members. Unlike Moe, who joined in his 20s, George* is a former heroin user who joined when he was 52. George initially signed up to find information on growing opium poppies, but discovered a sense of solidarity within the community and became involved with the site’s administration. Then there’s Joe: a 34-year-old former moderator from Perth. He came to Bluelight as a 25-year-old recovering from an addiction to benzodiazepines. A year after joining, Joe was offered a moderator role, and started voluntarily minding the “Pharmacology” and “Dark Side” sub-forums. And although he eventually stepped down to look after his mental health, he—like everyone else VICE spoke to—maintains that his contribution to the site felt important; that he was helping to make drug-taking a safer pursuit . “My goal was to motivate people to educate themselves before they do harm to themselves,” he explains via Wickr.

In many ways this quote strikes at the core of Bluelight's mission. As the American-led war on drugs limps into its fifth destructive decade, many nations continue to restrict the kinds of harm minimisation measures that could save lives. And while Bluelight doesn't replace something like music festival drug testing, it goes some distance to filling the void.
“WITHOUT A DOUBT WE SAVED LIVES,” Joe stresses in all-caps, before later adding: “I'd describe it as an encyclopaedia. An open door encyclopaedia, no judgement.”

Follow Sam on Twitter

*Name changed at the persons' request.


vice-tombstone.svg
 
^ What he said


But this is an interesting read especially how Bluelight.org even got started in the first place. This place has saved so many lives and I can safely say it has saved my life by giving Me a place to ask about information which has changed so many lives since before Bluelight.org the best thing you could do is read about the drugs at the Library or ask a Veteran Drug user but that can be a risky thing since drug users tend to believe things are true which simply are just not a "fact" that they honestly believe are facts.
 

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! :p:alien:
Congratulations Blue light and all you blue lighters who I read continuously when I was raving away....still am. This was kind of a Sanctuary for me but back then I was too out of my head to join anything??Still am in more ways now!! Thank you BL....hope this is the beginning of many articles across the spectrum. Best Wishes..Luna
 

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! :p:alien:
ARGH, Fuck Vice albeit that’s an excellent idea for a journalist to investigate. I just wish that actually happened! but rather this golden nugget of an idea is procured by fucking vice...
 

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! :p:alien:
I was so happy to have understand that I wasn't the only one wondering you know what kind of drugs are taking how much dosage should I be taking there's so many questions left unsaid because can't really go to the doctor he's just going to tell you to go to rehab when you want to continue using you can't go to your probation officer cuz you put a rescue your mom just going to spank you I'm happy to know that I'm a part of this community and been researching methamphetamine use for 35 years now and we come to one conclusion and that would be death.
 
Awesome!

Good work guys!!
Countless lives and injuries have been saved by this community and the support here is just amazing along with the quality of people.
We ARE a family here!

❤️
 
There was another site similar for years, it’s gone now tho I don’t know why, so I think it’s not a rule breach to mention it.
It was just called DrugsForum.
Much the same as blue light, full of info for harm reduction, safe dosing, which drugs not to mix and most importantly a family of open minded folk who watched each other’s backs when times got tough.
I’ve often wondered where they went.
But I guess blue light fills the void. If you don’t manage to put your foot in it and offend everyone on day one 😂😂
 
Since coming here, I havent wanted to rejoin recover your life as I felt their approach was bit too, “well can’t mention that sugary donut,“I couldn’t mmetion I am popping out for cigarette or vape and felt that ryl was making self harm, self injury or substance abuse seem like something that csn be stopped by doing distractions techniques for a few days. So I found it an unhelpful website, they even made comments on choice of music. I listen to hiphop, rap with lots of drug and alcohol and references, last christmas new year I couldn’t even mention I’m going to have drink celebrate Xmas, like most people do when it’s acceptable to get pissed.

Im seriously glad I left that website. I did not make me feel better and I will never take their advice.
if I was quitting sugar, I would follow their advice
 
There was another site similar for years, it’s gone now tho I don’t know why, so I think it’s not a rule breach to mention it.
It was just called DrugsForum.
Much the same as blue light, full of info for harm reduction, safe dosing, which drugs not to mix and most importantly a family of open minded folk who watched each other’s backs when times got tough.
I’ve often wondered where they went.
But I guess blue light fills the void. If you don’t manage to put your foot in it and offend everyone on day one 😂😂

It's still there: https://drugs-forum.com/

It has a much lower activity level than Bluelight.

(I read the post again. I don't think naming another site is a rules breach? Only BLUA 18 seems close and that's not what this is, so I think it's okay. I'm sure I'll hear if it's not.)
 
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I know that this sites information kept me alive. I never would have thought of doing a test on heroin before slamming my usual. Lost 5 friends I partied with all the time in 2017. One right after the other to the "gray death". I had switched to H after getting dismissed from the pain clinic for failed UDS. I was getting 6 hydromorphone 4 mg tabs and a 100 mcg fentanyl patch every 3 days and buying opana off the street. Cut me off cold. I went to methadone clinic for 3 months, but developed long QT syndrome on my EKG. So I weaned off methadone. Couldn't afford Subutex. No health insurance. I digress. Learning about getting test kits from the needle exchange and test dosing with a new bag on these forums IS absolutely the reason I am still breathing. I would be just a memory like John, Madison, Star, B and Tim. Thank you. I survived that round. Even though I don't post often, know I am still here soaking up as much knowledge as I can and sharing it with my friends.
 
There was another site similar for years, it’s gone now tho I don’t know why, so I think it’s not a rule breach to mention it.
It was just called DrugsForum.
Much the same as blue light, full of info for harm reduction, safe dosing, which drugs not to mix and most importantly a family of open minded folk who watched each other’s backs when times got tough.
I’ve often wondered where they went.
But I guess blue light fills the void. If you don’t manage to put your foot in it and offend everyone on day one 😂😂
Ya its still around but futile at least in my experience usuing the amp section. they are totally nazi's that dont allow free speech or even the most basic priciples of the very purpose that forums serve. they preach in the name of "harm reduction" but end up not giving a shit about reducing the harm of society. Blue light all the way. sure there might be sum shitty feedback or mispelled words from certain users but the very fact of openly being able to exchange words with fellow human beings is prolific in comparison.
 
Bluelight may have saved my life a few times. however, a great many people have died directly because of bluelight and the connections made here. I can only tell you that as a youngster the things I learned here early on, have saved quite a few people.

RIP;
Splatt, Mav3rick, Davie.

You guys are forever in my memory.
 
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