Throughout the year we keep on getting messages from people across Canada telling us that they wish they had the TRIP! Project in their community.  While we usually send out small care packages to communities outside of Toronto, there are a few TRIP! resources which are available for free across Canada, including shipping!  The CATIE (Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange) Ordering Centre is a national resource for free HIV/AIDS and Hep C resources. CATIE will ship you any information you want right to your door step or community centre! It's now easier than ever to start your own harm reduction project, as it doesn't matter if you're a grassroots youth collective in Nunavut or an established social services agency-- it's all free!

For a few years CATIE has been including our Safer Snorting resource both in French and English .  This month they've added two TRIP! resources to their roster, including both our Boyz on Boyz and Grrlz on Grrlz Sexual Health Postcards! We are so incredibly excited to be contributing to this national database and we hope that our materials will reach out across the country empowering youth to make health desicions about how they party.  On our new postcards we've included room for you to personalize the resource and put in your own contact information.  We are so pleased to be collaborating with CATIE again, and we hope to have more of our resources available in the future.

Mephedrone (aka 4-methylmethcathinone)

Max Volume aka M-Cat 

The trip:

- feels euphoric, somewhere between cocaine and MDMA, but different than either. Closer to MDMA, but just as expensive or more than coke!
- is much better than MDMA for sex (most people on MDMA don't get horny at all, some can't get erections -- no problems like that here)
- trip comes on and ends very suddenly (bang, there it is... bang, where'd it go?)
- lots of people say it gives them a compulsion to redose, but each time is less effective
- burns like hell when snorted and tastes disgusting (especially the drip) but feels great enough that lots of people think the initial pain is worth it
- strong smell (one user on Erowid compared it to ammonia)
- fast onset (10-20 minutes), medium-short duration (2-3 hours), somewhat of an unpleasant crash for about an hour, not much of a hangover at all
- a common dose with pretty decent effects seems to be 100 mg. 50 mg seems too mild for some and 200 can be overwhelming.

Health effects:

- very caustic (ie, it burns), so causes quite a lot of damage to the nose, sinus and back of the throat when snorted
- high potential for addiction, seems a lot worse for that than MDMA, partly because of the short duration and sudden end making people want to redose
- rather toxic. LD-50 is totally unknown and we only have a vague idea of the long term health effects, but everything we know suggests it's potentially bad news. Handful of deaths, lots more hospitalizations, plenty more adverse reactions that didn't seek medical help
- one of its metabolites, 4-methylephedrine, is a potent vasoconstrictor, which means it causes your blood vessels to squeeze up, which means that it's really dangerous to use if you've got high blood pressure or are pregnant (vasoconstrictors during pregnancy lead to the fetus not getting enough blood supply, leading in turn to poor development and low birth weight)
- in the a lot of the described adverse reactions, people report skin turning blue or purple. If you notice this happening, get help immediately!

For more info see:

Mephedrone: the users, the dealers, the debate

Mephedrone: From plant food to Britain’s party drug

NeuroSoup Mephedrone 

Today on CBC Radio News Harvard Professor Lester Grinspoon took on drug policy conservative Barry McKnight.  McKnight claims that higher concentrations of THC in pot are creating criminals and crippling Canadian youth.  Grinspoon took on this falacy by presenting the point that stronger drugs mean that users will moderate their use.  Grinspoon challenged the reclassification of marijuana as a Level 1 sustaince by stating that when US drug companies created the synthetic canaboid pill called Marinol they had it classified at Level 2, so that it could be perscribed by phsyicians.  If a synthetic drug that is classified at Level 2 has 100% levels of THC it does not make sense to classify a substance that is of a lesser concentration at Level 1. Humbled, McKnight thanked Grinspoon for his research stating that "families need information" about these harmful substances.  Grinspoon responded wittily that families need correct information, not hyped up propaganda.  Youth need correct information about marijuana, a substance that is signifigantly less toxic than alcohol, so that they can consume it in a responsible manner. 

Maybe we should be calling Professor Grinspoon to see if he'd be interested in making an anonymous donation?  One thing is for sure, it is questionable whether the Conservative government's $64-million anti-drug stratagy will find it's way to funding harm reduction initiatives like TRIP.  "They haven't explicitly said they are getting rid of harm reduction, but the budget numbers speak for themselves," said Leon Mar, spokesman for the Canadian HIV-AIDS Legal Network. "There is no money for harm reduction, which is quite ominous for what will be."  Canada is known around the world for its inovative harm reduction programs.  The next thing you know, Harper is going to start spending money on silver rings and distributing them around high schools.  Just don't be suprised if teen pregnancy and drug overdoses go up!

According to TRIP surveys, Marijuana is one of the most popular drugs at parties.  In Canadian society Marijuana very accepted, often smoked outside on the streets with bravo.  In 2003 Toronto police chief Julian Fantino made a public statement that police would not arrest users with less than 30 grams on them.  Jean Chretien was pushing bills through that would decriminalize cannabis, but then he left office and things fell apart.  That bill has yet to be passed, yet Canadian youth are under the impression that marijuana is still legal.  With Stephen Harper in power, the police are not as forgiving and there has been a recent spike in pot arrests. 

Marijuana remains illegal and Canada, yet youth are smoking it more boldly than ever.  "You'd have a youth smoking a joint out on the street without any fear
of being caught," said Toronto police Detective Doug McCutcheon.  In 2006 Canada's main cities reported a rise between 20-50% in marijuana arrests.  This spike in criminalization is starkly related to the rise of conservative politics in Canadian society.  With Harper in power we're not going to see marijuana legalized any time soon.  On top of that we have folks like the Globe and Mail's Margaret Wente spreading rumors that marijuana is the new crack.  According to Wente, "The vast majority of the marijuana inhaled today is not the mellow weed you and I remember from our youth. It is many times more powerful. In
fact, the United Nations now classifies Canadian-grown marijuana as a
hard drug whose destructive power puts it in the same league as cocaine." Herbert Schaepe, secretary to the UN International Narcotics Control Board is a stanch opponent of harm reduction and has scolded Canada many times for not cracking down on seed distribution and pot users.  Blogger  Cliff Almas from Calgary Alberta breaks down the myths for us:

Contrary to popular myth, greater potency is not necessarily more dangerous, due to the fact that users tend to adjust (or "self-titrate") their dose according to potency. Thus, good quality sinsemilla is actually healthier for the lungs because it reduces the amount of smoke one needs to inhale to get high.

 The stronger concentration of THC, the less we have to smoke to get high.  This means lower cancer risk and healthier lungs.  Ms. Wente tells us that stronger pot is hurting Toronto's marginalized youth.  I would say that increasing incarceration rates of pot users is hurting marginalized youth even more, increasing the amount of youth of colour who populate our courts system.  

Well, we all knew it has been happening all along in our own communities, but a recent study by Nielsen BuzzMetrics has discovered that teens are using social networking sites to swap tips online about drug use.  The new study reports that around 1.6 per cent of youth are using the internet to find information on drugs. Of this percentile, 11% are trading tips on how to use drugs safetly. 

Personally I'm suprised by this study.  I would think that more youth would be online researching drugs. Although many youth are sheltered to a certain extent, I would say that the majority of teens must know atleast one peer who is using drugs, and alchohol.  In a 2003 study done by CAHM discovered that of their sample, one-in-ten teens are engaged in drinking and drug consumption.  There is a huge gap in these numbers, and although the studies are 4 years apart, it pays testiment to the increase of online outreach that has to happen to fill this gap.  If the concern is about youth swapping incorrect information, then it is up to the health service providers to addopt these grassroots means of distributing information to get our message out. 

That's why TRIP is here.  Much like the youth who are online swapping tips, we swapped tips amongst our communities until it formed into a solid entity.  Grassroots community info swapping has not only happened in the clubs, but also on community message boards like Hullabaloo, PureRave, and Tribe.  Even some of the early BBSs were focused on drug use. Youth have been using the internet since its advent to share information on drugs, and it is this open principle of information sharing that infuses the spirit of TRIP.  Let this tradition continue.  Remember, we always welcome your participation.  Don't be afraid to join up, post comments, or start up some threads on our messageboards.  Only together can we keep our communities safe! 

Hey everyone,
I found this great video on PotTV.net.  I thought you would find it interesting!

Looks like Oxies are soaring in popularity these days.  Statistics coming from the United States report that recreational prescription drug use is surpassing even Marijuana use. OxyContin is the name brand for Oxycodone, a commonly prescribed, highly addictive analgestic medication.  On the street they are usually called Oxies, or sometimes Hilbilly Heroine, although I don't think people who use it would ever consider themselves Hilbillies. 

Last years HotDocs festival featured the documentary CottonLand, a stunning exposition on the increasingly higher rate of Oxy addiction in rural Cape Bretton.  This is definately a new trend that is sweeping across North America.  

Hola a todo,

elle.

From the Kaisernetwork.org

[Feb 14, 2007]

      New York City health officials on Wednesday are scheduled to unveil the city's official condom as part of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's efforts to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports (Kugler, AP/Long Island Newsday, 2/13). The health department last month approved a $1.57 million contract to deliver more than 20 million Ansell Healthcare's Lifestyle condoms and packets of lubricants to organizations and venues
in the city to help curb the spread of HIV. The health department will pay Ansell four cents per condom, putting the cost of the program at about $720,000 annually, according to health officials. Officials are attempting to make the packaging for the condoms, which will be
distributed by the city, more distinctive. City officials said they hope the condom's packaging will help them to better track the effectiveness of their distribution program (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/29). According to the AP/Newsday, the condoms' design is expected to be a subway theme with different colors for various train lines (AP/Long Island Newsday, 2/13). Officials plan to track the progress of the program through an annual community health survey, which polls 10,000 city residents by telephone. New York City currently distributes about 1.5 million
condoms monthly, or about 18 million annually, at no cost to organizations, health clinics, advocacy groups, bars, restaurants, nail salons, nightclubs and prisons. Organizations or venues can request an unlimited supply of condoms at no cost through an online ordering
system set up by the city health department (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 1/29). Volunteers are scheduled to hand out the no-cost condoms at the launch, which will take place at a Kenneth Cole store in Manhattan. The store also plans to unveil a T-shirt and boxer shorts as part of the campaign (AP/Long Island Newsday, 2/13).