The Drug Users Bible by Dominic Milton Trott is a well known 638 page harm reduction tome. If you’re pressed for time or in a social setting, you can now access a free-of-charge PDF version of the book via Volteface.
If you’re unfamiliar with the work, allow Amazon to explain:
“Over a 12 year period the author of this book self-administered over 180 psychoactive substances; both chemicals and plants. For each he recorded the life-sensitive safety data, including the anticipated onset times, the common threshold doses, the routes of administration, and the expected duration of the experience. In addition, for every compound he also produced a trip report, detailing the qualitative experience itself. This delivered another invaluable insight, enabling, for example, an objective assessment of the extent of any loss of judgement and self-control.”
This is now available via Volteface as a free-of-charge PDF, which you can download here.
Why a PDF?
It was written to make a difference: to reach as many consumers as possible, and ideally, to imbed a harm reduction check-point into the individual’s drug-usage process, whatever their drug of choice. But how to reach the consumer who is perhaps in a social setting and is short on time?
The answer for many will be via the mobile phone: the provision of instant access to something the individual actually owns. This sense of ownership is undoubtedly a factor in terms of motivation to reference.
Further, upon opening the PDF there is no requirement to search or to think or to work anything out. All that is needed is a swipe down to the drug of choice. Note that the book’s layout was specifically designed with this in mind: the essential data is at the top of the page, followed by a break in the form of a photograph, and then the ‘delve deeper’ in the form of text and detail.
For many, this is surely the most cogent scenario in terms of preventing tragedy. It’s possibly as simple as it gets. Alternatively, it can be used on a PC or laptop or wherever is required.
Darknet Distribution
On visiting a doctor and being prescribed medication it is taken for granted that you will be provisioned with the requisite information to proceed in a safe and sensible manner. With respect to recreational drugs and medicines, however, this is not the case, despite a myriad of additional risks which are largely created via prohibition (such as the potential for substance impurity and mis-identification).
With this in mind, and with the support of the Darknet’s social media platform, Dread, the author approached all the major darknet markets. The vision was, of course, the provision of harm reduction information at the point of drug purchase.
This vision is now developing into reality, with a majority of these markets now providing the PDF directly to consumers. The intent, which is realistic, is to complete the full set.
How you can help others
It really is vital that we make harm reduction information ubiquitous within the community. It really is ignorance that kills so many. We really must do our best as a community to make safety practices second nature, and get the essential data to everyone who needs it.
To this end, please feel free to download and share it. Or alternatively, simply share the link to this page.
Ignorance kills, but hopefully this initiative will help to save some of those lives. The portability of a PDF may help to at least put the idea of harm reduction on to the agenda where it was previously overlooked.
Finally
Remember that you can use this resource whenever and wherever you wish, and that education saves lives. Stay safe.
Dominic Milton Trott is an author and explorer who has travelled the world to investigate psychoactive botanicals and indigenous cultures. His notable works include ‘The Drug Users Bible’ and ‘The Honest Drug Book’. Tweets at @DrugUsersBible