Global Drug Survey 2014 - includes section on your ideal cannabis!

[mjbarratt]

Hello to the OzStoners community - here's an introduction to the latest GDS 2014, which has a focus on cannabis this year.

 

Drugs are a funny thing. Lots of people take them, lots of people talk about them – often not knowing much at all about what they are talking about. The media sometimes does a fantastic reporting on drug issues, other times it’s just not useful or accurate. Sometimes it’s just plain rubbish. Researchers do some interesting stuff but most of it‘s focused on the harm that drugs cause – not the pleasure they can bring to people’s lives. Global Drug Survey hopes to change that.

Collaborating with over 20 media partners and host of researchers and harm reduction networks across the world, translated into 10 languages and running with hubs in 17 countries we are about to under take the biggest survey of everyday drug use (inducing alcohol, tobacco and of course prescription medication – they are drugs to!) that the world, has ever seen.

From what would be the perfect cannabis and life after the Silk Road, to what happened when you’re caught with drugs or being drug-tested in work place; from nitrous oxide balloons and ecstasy pill testing to value for money and finding out what people do to keep themselves safe while high – this is going to be huge and relevant for people who use drugs, who drink, drop, get high, get low, gets scripts, grow their own or are just curious about the world around them.

If you are interested in drugs help us get the best information out to everyone. Our results will be published exclusively with our global media partners in March and April 2014.

Take part in Global Drug Survey 2014 at http://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/GDS2014

Everything is anonymous and confidential.

(GDS is headed up by Dr Adam Winstock, email adam@globaldrugsurvey.com. The survey has ethics approval. N.B. I have had a role in designing parts of the survey!)

 

AND in relation to your favourite plant: Here's what GDS is asking about it -

 

What we will ask
Cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the world and the first to have its growing to be industrialized in every country - it's probably the most profitable drug in the world. With the dominance of high potency strains, there has been little assessment of whether what people are offered is really what they want to use. Work done by GDS2013 identified high potency herbal strains as being the most popular, the most available and giving the best high but also the type most associated with memory problems and paranoia. GDS2014 is asking the consumer to rank different forms of cannabis on potency and preference and describe the perfect cannabis high and how this compares to what they experience with their currently used preparations. We will also identify how cannabis users go about trying to reduce their risks of harm and how many use it for medical reasons. We will also compare how many of them end up seeking emergency medical treatment each year (and why) compared to those who have used synthetic cannabis products which GDS2013 identified as being associated with a wide range of unwanted effects.

Why this is important – We hope to challenge the dominance of the high potency market based on consumer feedback and provide cannabis users with the best harm reduction advice based on the experience of 10s of thousands of users across the world.
 

[RadiateLight]

Hey heyyyy stranger,

 

Still awaiting the publication of previous findings.

 

You're right about a lot of people taking drugs, everybody on this planet does - no person excluded.

 

Feel free to post the links ..

 

Peas.

Edited November 15, 2013 by RadiateLight

[mjbarratt]

Hi Global Drug Survey findings from last year were published in March/April 2013 in the media outlets. Of course it takes a lot longer to get papers published - we are in the process of doing that now, responding to reviewer comments, etc.

 

Here are a few examples of articles that arose from last year's data:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-respectable-drugtaker-20130315-2g6c4.html

http://www.theage.com.au/national/death-toll-rises-as-prescription-drug-abuse-grows-20130316-2g7mx.html

http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-hidden-problem-of-middleclass-drinking-20130315-2g6ak.html

http://www.smh.com.au/national/bitter-pills-a-quick-fix-and-a-long-road-to-recovery-20130316-2g7mw.html

[RadiateLight]

Hey ms. barratt;

 

Thanks for your letter to the parliamentary enquiry on medicinal cannabis, you to mongy and others. I read all the documents submitted to the parliamentary inquiry on medicinal cannabis last year, I may be wrong but i suspected that you had submitted one of the documents to the committee.

 

Thanks to all those that did!

 

cheers.

[mjbarratt]

Hey ms. barratt; Thanks for your letter to the parliamentary enquiry on medicinal cannabis, you to mongy and others. I read all the documents submitted to the parliamentary inquiry on medicinal cannabis last year, I may be wrong but i suspected that you had submitted one of the documents to the committee. Thanks to all those that did! cheers.

 

Yes we were involved - we wrote a submission. It was good to see that the report recommended availability of cannabis for specific medical purposes, albeit a narrow range. It was disappointing, though perhaps not too surprising, that the government of the day is not prepared to entertain the idea.

[mjbarratt]

As described by the Huff Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/global-drug-survey_n_4298042.html?1384815138

[Matanuska Thunder]

Bump

 

I've completed the survey, have you?

 

grab a cone, comfy seat and get to it- expect to take at least 20min...

[louise]

done and dusted