Harm Reduction Includes Abstinence

According to the Harm Reduction Coalition, harm reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use.  Harm reduction principles include: Accepts, for better and or worse, that licit and illicit drug use is part of our world and chooses to work to minimize its harmful effects rather than simply ignore or condemn them. Understands drug use as a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon that encompasses a continuum of behaviors from severe abuse to total abstinence, and acknowledges that some ways of using drugs are clearly safer than others. Establishes quality of individual and community...

September 18, 2017Read more...

Myth: Some People Never Stop Tripping After Eating Mushrooms

DanceSafe is here to debunk the myth that it's possible to "never stop tripping" after taking mushrooms.  The first, most prevalent issue with this claim is the fact that all drugs are eventually excreted from your body after a certain period of time. To figure out when most drugs will be around 97-99% excreted from your system, look up the drug's half-life and multiply it by five. In the case of psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms that is broken down into psilocin in the body), its half-life is only around 1-2 hours, which means that it is no longer active in...

September 11, 2017Read more...

No, Fido is Not High on the LSD You Took

Long before “fake news” was a coined term, people started believing that if they were tripping (on LSD) or rolling (on MDMA) and they pet their dog or cat, their animal would begin feeling the effects of the drug. This myth spread like wildfire, and it is still alive and circulated today. However, there is no scientific backing to support this contention, and with what we know about how these psychedelics effect the body, this statement is false. The myth goes that excretions from the pores on your skin, notably your palms, will transfer trace amounts of whatever drug was ingested...

September 4, 2017Read more...

You Cannot Identify a Substance using Sensory Information

Contrary to what popular belief, you can never identify a substance by sensory information alone!  Yes, really. Yes, including the DanceSafe team.  Substances on the illicit market come in a variety of colors, consistencies, smells, and tastes, and therefore there is no safe or accurate way to determine what something is by merely looking at, tasting, or smelling it. Something like MDMA, for example, can come in many different hues ranging from clear to brown, and can be crystals, ground up into a fine powder, or pressed into a tablet and sold as an ecstasy pill. Some MDMA even has a purple...

August 28, 2017Read more...

It’s science: Methamphetamine and Adderall produce identical effects

On the spectrum of stigma associated with virtually all illicit drug use, methamphetamine is definitely on the high end, along with heroin and crack cocaine. We all remember seeing the billboards and television ads plastered all over with fear-inciting images of pale and sickly people with missing teeth and sores all over their bodies. The advertisements warned: “Meth. Not Even Once.” “These types of media campaigns neither prevent nor decrease the use of the drug; nor do they provide any real facts about the effects of meth,” states Dr. Carl Hart. “They succeed only in perpetuating false assumptions.” In fact, Dr. Carl...

July 3, 2017Read more...