The Global Drugs Survey 2022 aims to promote honest conversation about the 'good, the bad and the ugly' of drug use.
Have you taken any drugs recently? There’s a good chance you have, whether it’s alcohol, tobacco, prescription medication or illegal substances.
If so, you have an opportunity to share your own experiences to help shape drug policy around the globe, which hopefully could help save people’s lives.
Since 2011, the Global Drugs Survey (GDS) has aimed to ‘make drug use safer regardless of the legal status’ by building a clearer picture of how people take them.
This year Metro.co.uk is joining forces with GDS to help promote the survey, as well as honest conversations about the ‘good, the bad and the ugly’ of drug use – cutting through the various moral panics and political lines on the issue.
The range of topics is pretty wide, from sex on psychedelics, how much of a difference low alcohol drinks actually make, and the health risks of rolling joints with tobacco.
Following a wave of stories on spiking in bars and nightclubs in recent months, the GDS also wants to hear from victims (anonymously) to get some solid data on the issue.
GDS founder and addiction specialist Dr Adam Winstock says that information gleaned from this survey could ‘absolutely’ help save someone’s life.
He tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Fortunately deaths from taking most drugs is a real rarity, but ending up in the emergency department actually is pretty common.
‘Probably across the people who respond to the Global Drugs Survey I’d say about 3-4% have ended up in the emergency department in the past year.
‘What’s amazing is, most of those admissions were entirely preventable, by changing the way people chose to use drugs that night.
‘The Government’s not particularly interested in telling people how to use drugs more safely because the view is that drugs are illegal because they’re harmful.
‘However, there’s nothing inherently evil or dangerous about any drug molecule. The thing that determines harm is individual behaviour and how you choose to use it.’
Of course, the safest option is to not take drugs at all, and Dr Winstock says that while you can lower the risk, you can never reduce it to zero.
Meanwhile, he says the zero tolerance approach taken by most governments doesn’t really resonate with people who do decide to use drugs anyway.
Dr Winstock adds: ‘Most people who use drugs do so moderately and most people don’t run into problems.
‘The way to avoid problems – this is so pathetically simple – is use less drugs, less often and you will have more fun and run into less harm. Moderation is a really enjoyable thing.’
As well as various global government inquiries, GDS’s data has been used for coroners inquiries into MDMA related deaths in Australia.
Its figures on dark web markets are also used every year by the United Nation’s World Drug Report.
Having published two of the largest global studies on nitrous oxide (laughing gas), the UK government is likely to draw heavily on the GDS’s findings for its current review on the drug – which could be made illegal.
The project has also done lots of work recently on how effective warning labels could be for alcohol.
‘Whether governments pay attention to the evidence you produce is all down to whether or not the evidence you’re giving suits their particular narrative,’ explains Dr Winstock.
‘If you’re smart, when the evidence changes you change your mind. Unfortunately most governments are evidence resistant and I don’t know how you inoculate against that. It’s probably to do with electability and polls.’
Click here to take part anonymously in this year’s survey.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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