Young Folks: Get Out the Vote!

By: Erica Darragh 2020 has been a year of profound change. At the beginning of the year, a deeply polarizing Democratic primary revealed distinct generational divides in political views and priorities. In the spring, economic disparity crystallized during the COVID-19 pandemic. By summer, the racial justice uprising ignited millions of people around the ... Read more

Hispanic Heritage Month: Mitchell Gomez

Our Executive Director, Mitchell Gomez, is of mixed (and complex) heritage. His mother’s family are European Jews who escaped Russia and Ukraine during the pogroms of the late 1800s and early 1900s. His father’s family is comprised of many different groups, with a documented ancestry stretching back to the 1500s in what are now New Mexico and ... Read more

Why Does DanceSafe Release Test It! Alerts?

By: Rachel Clark, Programs & Communications Coordinator Greetings, DanceSafers! As many of you know, we routinely release Test It! Alerts that detail the appearance, location, and contents of adulterated drugs around the country based on Erowid’s DrugsData Project and community-submitted entries. We believe that this information on its own is useful ... Read more

DanceSafe Adds Programs & Communications Coordinator to its Growing Staff

The DanceSafe Staff and Board are thrilled to announce the addition of Rachel “Sputnik” Clark to the DanceSafe National team! Rachel has provided services to DanceSafe as a contractor for the last year, taking over our social media, Test It! Alerts, volunteer onboarding and coordination, and other program and communications-related tasks. Prior to ... Read more

#TestIt Alert: Bag of white powder sold in Philadelphia, PA as cocaine but actually contains phenacetin, cocaine, benzocaine, levamisole, and others

By: Rachel Clark, Programs & Communications Coordinator A bag of soft white powder was sold in Philadelphia, PA as cocaine, but actually contains phenacetin, cocaine, benzocaine, levamisole, and others. The sample was submitted from Baltimore, MD to Erowid’s DrugsData Project. The sample did not react in the presence of the Marquis reagent, and turned ... Read more

Ketamine Bladder Damage – What You Need to Know

Using ketamine can be fun, and recent studies have shown it to have antidepressant effects. (1) But using it too often can damage your bladder and result in a serious condition known as Ketamine Bladder Syndrome (a.k.a. Ketamine Cystitis). Your bladder is a round sac behind your pelvic bone that holds urine. It is about the size of a grapefruit, but can ... Read more

#TestIt Alert: Continued reports of fatal overdoses from cocaine adulterated with (likely) fentanyl in Chicago, IL

By: Rachel Clark, Programs & Communications Coordinator In early August, we released an alert notifying the public of fentanyl’s increasing prevalence as a potentially deadly adulterant in cocaine. As September quickly approaches, we have received new reports of a huge spike in overdoses in Melrose Park, IL – a suburb outside of Chicago – ... Read more

Meet & Greet: Mohawk

Meet & Greets are introductions to the lives and work of our remarkable community members. The individuals featured in these stories are volunteers, activists, and contributors – it is their passion that drives DanceSafe, and their dedication that sustains it. Meet Mohawk (they/them). Mohawk’s Story My name is Mohawk Greene. I became active in ... Read more

#TestIt Alert: Nationwide reports of fentanyl in cocaine, including consequent deaths

By: Rachel Clark, DanceSafe Contractor In the midst of a global pandemic, America remains entrenched in its opioid crisis, particularly in the context of fentanyl adulteration. However, it is widely assumed that fentanyl is only prevalent as a contaminant in illicitly purchased opioid-like drugs, a sentiment that often disincentivizes buyers from using ... Read more

#TestIt Alert: Reports of potential fentanyl contamination of various kinds of drugs in Colorado, causing opioid overdoses

By: Rachel Clark, DanceSafe Contractor Anecdotal reports of likely fentanyl-related overdoses, including deaths, are arising from multiple regions in Colorado. The city of Denver has experienced a 282% increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths, when comparing the first half of 2019 with the first half of 2020. Reports have included a death from an ... Read more