The 13 Basic Rules of Doing Drugs Safely!
1. Always, always, always test your drugs with a test kit. This is especially valid at a big festival, and especially especially for stuff being sold as MDMA and coke.
2. Weed is a tricky little bugger. If you don’t feel good after smoking, try some cola. Sugar and caffeine can boost you.
3. Regardless of what people say, smoking the greens when high on something else isn’t always a good idea. This is especially true for psychedelics. If you’re prone to obsessive thoughts or panic/anxiety attacks, don’t smoke when high on something else.
4. Give yourself about a month between each “heavy” drug use. You can’t roll each weekend and expect the same high. The body needs time to replenish its neurotransmitters. Drugs can (and with frequent use will) make you sad and the cure is not doing more. Therefor, be very, very careful with amphetamine and methamphetamine. Doing speed can lead to months of depression because each dopamine overload forces your brain to be less sensitive to dopamine (dopamine receptor downregulation).
5. Harm reduction before anything else. When doing anything from the amphetamine family - bring some Mg and some Na-R-ALA. When doing psychedelics - remember set and setting and also have a benzo nearby (as it can “kill” the trip). Don’t overhydrate. Don’t redose. Nothing is truly “harmless”, be aware of every risk.
6. Some drugs (like some benzos) can take a looooong time to be gotten rid of. Some drugs have a long half-life and can accumulate with daily dosing. Keep that mind in when binging. Check my full safety guide on Xanax and other benzos here.
7. Knowledge is freedom. Getting hooked on something isn’t easy but being dumb about it can sure make it easy. Do a deep dive on r/drugs or r/DrugNerds, learn all you can for your substance of choice.
8. Tell people around you what you’re on. Always keep a small sample of the drug for the doctors if you’re not sure what it is. It’s way easier to help when the doctors know what you’re on instead of guessing.
9. Be good to yourself. Always use as a celebration, not as an escape. Never blame yourself for relapsing, praise yourself for putting effort. Quitting is something you learn. And each skill takes trial and error to master.
10. Be as honest as possible with yourself about drugs. If you feel like you’re taking more than usual, if you feel like you’re bullshitting yourself, if you feel like you’ve started doing stuff you’ve mocked before, if you feel like people around you have been distancing themselves or have tried talking to you about the drugs… listen!
11. You on drugs ≠ you off drugs. Some will understand how this is helpful, some will not.
12. Take everything on the topic with a grain of salt. 99% of people on forums are hobby pharmacists not real scientists.
13. Take time to learn the law. Know your rights when confronted by the police. Know what’s okay and what’s not okay in your country. Know the possible consequences of your actions in the worst case scenario. Take precautions. Dress properly when carrying, blend in. Use messaging apps which encrypt conversations, don’t store unencrypted chat logs on their server and can’t be linked to you (by email, IP, telephone number, real name). You can never be “too paranoid” when it comes to this.
