NEWS FEATURE Talk to Frank (or Fridge Magnet)

As the internet takes a more central position in Britain’s drug landscape, through the sale of legal highs and proliferation in sites specialising in drugs, more people are turning to unofficial as a source of information on psychoactive substances. Mike Power reports

‘Taking drugs is illegal. Talking about Martin Horwood as a “disconcertingly it, we were trying to correct stuff the them isn’t,’ intoned an advert for Talk well-informed ”, has fielded more media was putting out. Some of it was To Frank, the official government drug than 120,000 page views and around counterproductive, preposterous scare information service upon its launch in 10,000 individual posts. stories.” 2003. The service, famous for its Pablo is part of a huge site where The site’s drug information pages, the Drug Mule Dog and Brain Warehouse users with names such as FridgeMagnet, where detailed information is offered on TV campaigns, claims it has received Clint Iguana, Rollem and Kained&Able many substances, are hugely popular, a growing number of email and phone chat online about topics as wide-ranging with over 60,000 unique page views in enquiries since its inception. as computer technology, general gossip, December 2009 alone, as drug users The idea of a non-judgmental, honest cookery and gardening, philosophy and worldwide sought information on and accessible information source was photography. substances such as GBL, amphetamines, a good one; its execution, however, The site’s founder and editor, Mike ecstasy, LSD and cannabis. alienated some drug users. Slocombe, set up its static, harm Users can also post messages in “Someone I’m very close to rang Talk reduction-focussed drug information threads that develop into often-complex to Frank when they were having a panic pages in response to the death of online discussions. “People are going to attack after overdoing a few substances Leah Betts on November 16, 1995. The do drugs no matter what the government and booze,” said one poster on the teenager became a grim poster girl for think,” says Slocombe. “On urban75, we ‘drugs’ forum of urban75, a busy bulletin her generation, dying after taking an give honest advice, like an older brother board based in , . “Frank ecstasy pill – and drinking seven pints of who’s been there, done that. And we told them they were very stupid and water in 90 minutes. don’t deny that drugs can be great fun that mixing drugs and alcohol can lead She panicked at a party at her as well.” to brain damage and death. Really cool parents’ home after taking the drug, It’s this approach that Slocombe says thing to say to someone who’s having a believing incorrect media reports that sets the site apart from official services. panic attack.” users of the drug should drink lots of “Talk To Frank does its thing, but it’s Websites such as urban75 – which water. Her death by water intoxication hamstrung by the fact it’s funded by the provide an online arena for people was a brutal illustration of the dangers government, there’s things they can’t say. to gather to discuss drug effects, of drug use – and inaccurate, or Look at the Professor David Nutt case: an experiences and safety – are reporting partially true public health information argument was made for reclassification growing numbers of people seeking campaigns. of cannabis and Ecstasy based on the advice on drugs. “Had she known what to do, harm they cause, and he was ignored. On mephedrone alone, urban75, she’d be alive today,” Slocombe tells “Politically, it’s suicide for any described in Parliament by Lib Dem MP Druglink. “Leah Betts was the start of politician to rally for the cause of

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Druglink_Mar-Apr_2010 AW.indd 6 5/3/10 16:58:54 declassification, or decriminalisation. had started having a difficult time. He He’s also clear on why official services We’ll never get a full and frank looked up information online and came can only ever fail to achieve their goals. discussion about drugs in the UK; across the Erowid warning messages. He “Bluelight gets the information across politically it’s too hot. Even on a local then joined Bluelight, received additional in a more credible way. The Frank ads are level, look at Brian Paddick [ex police warning and ended up getting himself to a joke. It has a very authoritarian stance. chief of Lambeth, south London]. He the hospital. In the end he was all right. They present the information in a way realised that locals cared about crack and We received several other messages from that claims there’s no other truth than smack more than pot, tried to change people who said they had also received what they say. People don’t accept that things, and he got burnt, too.” the mislabeled batch and had thrown the these days. Frank attempts to be funny, Urban75 does not allow users to ask material away after reading Erowid.” and it doesn’t come off as real, it just where they can get drugs, and at times The site gets 12 million visitors a seems forced. People don’t take Frank intervenes if the moderators feel threads year, about 45 per cent of whom are seriously, it’s the official tone that’s the are harmful. In 2007, several posters aged 18-22, 16 per cent or so are high problem,” he says. were evangelising on the benefits of school aged (15-17), and another 16 per But a Talk to Frank spokesperson ketamine, says Slocombe. The site’s cent are aged 23-29. Submissions are says the site has been successful in moderators had a meeting and decided posted anonymously, and Erowid takes striking a chord with young drug users. to intervene. technical steps to ensure users’ identity “Independent research shows that 81 Slocombe rejects arguments is protected. per cent of 11-18 year olds trust the site that the site popularises drug use, to provide them with balanced, reliable especially around the growth in use of On Urban75, we give information. Interactions with Frank mephedrone, where news of the now honest advice, like continue to grow each year and young massively popular legal high first broke people tell us that they value the help cover. an older brother that Frank provides.” “If urban75 did not exist, mephedrone who’s been there, Bluelight’s sister site, Pillreports, is would be no more or less popular. And at a searchable database of tablets sold least people could find balanced, honest done that worldwide as ecstasy. Fred, a 30-year- opinion and background on it. Also, we old London-based artist, told Druglink banned any sourcing discussions, even Fire’s motivation is the same as he uses the site to make sure his dealer though it was legal,” he says. Slocombe’s: to interject with honest, is selling genuine MDMA tablets, rather Deeper down in the virtual world functional advice – an alternative to the than the inferior piperazines that have of drugs information lie Erowid and politicised, official line. predominated in the UK black market for Bluelight. Erowid is a vast, searchable “The political pressures of the war over a year. database that documents users’ drug on drugs tend to create a lot of bad “Before seeing Pillreports, I never experiences, including dosage, effects – data, and we believe that accuracy and knew what a Marquis reagent test was. both positive and negative – and safety integrity in publishing information about Now, I use the test kit [which uses drops information. psychoactives will lead to healthier and of a chemical that turns black on contact One of Erowid’s founders, Fire (a more balanced choices and behaviours,” with MDMA] on all pills. If the reagent pseudonym) set the site up in the US she says. doesn’t go black, then I throw them away in 1994 as she and her partner were Bluelight is a stranger beast – or don’t buy them.” interested in both web design and altogether. Some of its sections flirt with Twenty years after the rise of Acid psychoactives, and so used their own a more anarchic and wild approach to House demonstrated that an entire archive of drug information as the basis drug taking, while other sub-fora are generation of young people were for a simple website. mindbendingly technical and geeked- enthusiastically ignoring government “Relatively quickly it became apparent out. Its ethos is harm reduction, and it advice and consuming drugs in that there was a lot of need for this type pursues this aim by hosting informed, unprecedented quantities, a growing of information and a lot of people who non-judgmental discussions. supply of harm reduction advice is now knew the answers to other people’s Many posters share their available. questions about recreational drugs. We encyclopedic, often professional or Sites like Urban75, Erowid and could help get accurate information out,” academic knowledge freely, collaborating Bluelight are not the only credible she says. to advance knowledge of harmful alternatives to Talk to Frank. Several drug The site works, and has saved lives. combinations of drugs, or dangerous charities, such as Release, Addaction “We receive on average two messages a metabolic processes that the body exerts and DrugScope have their own well-read week from people who explicitly tell us: on drugs. Meanwhile, expertise is also and independent information sources, ‘Erowid saved my life,’” says Fire. drawn upon to advance knowledge of which aim to inform users – and other A recent example proves her case. what combinations of drugs lead to interested parties – without condemning “Late last year, there was a batch of better or more intense experiences. them. a research chemical called Bromo- One poster there, known as Vecktor, It may not be politically palatable, but Dragonfly that was mislabeled and sold has identified a possible metabolite today, drug users know more about their online as 2C-B-Fly, a related but much of mephedrone which they say is topic than the government, and to many less potent chemical. Several people died cardiotoxic, and fears it will have health people, alternative sites seem better as a result of this mislabeling. News of impacts on users for many years to equipped to handle health problems these deaths was quickly disseminated come. than official helplines. through Erowid and other boards such as A Bluelight moderator, Kevin, offers As with many complex isues, the Bluelight. an unflinching analysis of why people more information we have, and the “We were then contacted by an take drugs. “All drug use is for the most more sources of advice can be tapped individual who said that he had ingested part an expression of self-destruction,” into and weighed-up, the better material from a batch of 2C-B-Fly and he says. informed we can be.

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