Don’t Get High Without It

The role that information plays in this cycle is, as Earth might say, nontrivial. Early on, potential users need to know that such substances exist, and are reportedly interesting, before they face the task of buying them online or getting a chemist friend to synthesize them. By providing information about these compounds, especially in the pivotal matter of dosage, Erowid inevitably drives the culture. A few years ago, the couple decided to label new research chemicals with a fat yellow biohazard symbol to indicate to potential psychonauts that, given the paucity of data, they were taking their brains in their own hands. To Erowid’s considerable chagrin, some gray-market vendors began using the very same symbol to hype their latest wares.

Clearly, online drug information is another one of those escaped genies that are now ravaging consensus reality. The best hope — and the one that motivates Earth and Fire — is to force the evolution of intelligence through good data, an ethos of responsibility and courage, and a seductive culture of critical thinking. “The belief that got us started and carried us forward is that everybody should have access to the same information,” says Fire. “Then we can actually discuss what’s true and not, the problems and benefits. But if law is working off one set of data, and users on their lore, and physicians on journals that no one can afford to subscribe to, then there’s no way to integrate the data and make better decisions.”

In any case, prohibition will never be the same. Erowid has already forced government sources like NIDA and ONDCP to become more sophisticated as they face a widening credibility gap with young people. In 2002, Earth and Fire were flabbergasted to receive an invitation to speak at a small NIDA conference on “Drugs, Youth, and the Internet.” The couple felt that the meetings, though surreal, went well. During one discussion about possible collaborations between NIDA and Erowid, one NIDA researcher argued strongly that the two groups should not work together. Such collaboration, he said, might ruin Erowid’s reputation.