DanceSafe

Last updated
DanceSafe
Formation1998
Key people
Emanuel Sferios, Bryan Oley, Dina Perrone, Chalaina Conners, Mitchell Gomez
Website https://www.dancesafe.org/

DanceSafe is a Berkeley, California based nonprofit organization founded in 1998 by then 30 year old Emanuel Sferios. [1] They have 17 [2] local chapters in the US and Canada. DanceSafe youth volunteers set up tables at music festivals, raves, and other events to distribute non-biased educational literature focused on harm reduction for safe and responsible drug use, including testing kits so that users may obtain more information about the contents of their pills. [3] [4] They also offer on site peer counseling, health and safety tools (Condoms, water, earplugs) and patrols for events that assist in keeping patrons safe. [5]

Contents

Sferios has resigned in 2001. [6] Tim Santamour served as Executive Director from 2001 to 2004. Bryan Oley served as Board President and from 2001–2009, Nathan Messer from 2009–2012, Melissa "Missi" Wooldridge from 2012–2016 and is currently headed by Mitchell Gomez. DanceSafe currently has a four-member board of directors who oversee the operations of the organization.

Emanuel Sferios, the founder of DanceSafe, claims that his organization has saved lives by preventing young people from taking the more dangerous adulterated pills and by educating them. [7]

On March 31, 2017, DanceSafe was part of a coalition of drug safety organisations hosting the first-ever International Drug Checking Day to raise awareness of safer drug use. [8] [9] The initiative was aimed at recreational users, with a particular emphasis on the nightlife community, and aims to promote harm reduction—accepting that people will choose to take drugs, and providing them with tools to minimize the risks.

Laboratory adulterant screening

Since 1999, DanceSafe has manufactured and sold consumer drug checking kits as part of their harm reduction services for users. DanceSafe also offers on-site pill testing services at harm reduction booths at electronic music events in the United States and Canada. DanceSafe coordinates with event promoters before offering on-site testing services, since some provisions of the so-called Rave Act laws hold organizers and venue owners liable for drug use at their events.

DanceSafe's consumer laboratory pill analysis program was taken over by the Erowid Center in 2001, who now offers drug analysis services for pills and other psychoactive substances through DrugsData (formerly EctstasyData). Erowid is an educational non-profit that receives additional support from several organizations, including DanceSafe. Lab fees for testing vary depending on the form of the substance (powder, pharmaceutical tablet, or street table) and include DEA-approved disposal of substances. The project accepts donations to support drug checking and pill-testing. All testing results since the beginning of the program in 1998 are available for review on DrugData.org.

Harm Reduction

In addition to the work at raves and other events, DanceSafe ran an online harm-reduction 'booth' from 2001–2010. The Booth's administrator was Bryan Oley. [10] In 2013, Dancesafe co-hosted the 8th International Club Health conference in San Francisco that included Academic, law enforcement, Harm Reduction and Health agencies from over 17 countries across the world.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harm reduction</span> Public health policies which lessen negative aspects of problematic activities

Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to decrease negative consequences of recreational drug use and sexual activity without requiring abstinence, recognizing that those unable or unwilling to stop can still make positive change to protect themselves and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Club drug</span> Category of recreational drugs

Club drugs, also called rave drugs or party drugs, are a loosely defined category of recreational drugs which are associated with discothèques in the 1970s and nightclubs, dance clubs, electronic dance music (EDM) parties, and raves in the 1980s to today. Unlike many other categories, such as opiates and benzodiazepines, which are established according to pharmaceutical or chemical properties, club drugs are a "category of convenience", in which drugs are included due to the locations they are consumed and/or where the user goes while under the influence of the drugs. Club drugs are generally used by adolescents and young adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2C-B</span> Psychoactive drug

2C-B (4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine), also known as Nexus, is a synthetic psychedelic drug of the 2C family, mainly used as a recreational drug. The substance was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin in 1974, and gained an initial reputation for potential psychotherapeutic use, but its use has been limited to mainly recreational use. To date, there is limited scientific information regarding the drug's pharmacokinetics and pharmacological effects in humans. The existing studies primarily classify 2C-B as a stimulant and hallucinogen, and less commonly an entactogen and empathogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erowid</span> Non-profit educational organization

Erowid, also called Erowid Center, is a non-profit educational organization that provides information about psychoactive plants and chemicals.

A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of drug testing include detection of the presence of performance enhancing steroids in sport, employers and parole/probation officers screening for drugs prohibited by law and police officers testing for the presence and concentration of alcohol (ethanol) in the blood commonly referred to as BAC. BAC tests are typically administered via a breathalyzer while urinalysis is used for the vast majority of drug testing in sports and the workplace. Numerous other methods with varying degrees of accuracy, sensitivity, and detection periods exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine</span> Chemical compound

3-Trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP) is a recreational drug of the phenylpiperazine chemical class and is a substituted piperazine. Usually in combination with benzylpiperazine (BZP) and other analogues, it is sold as an alternative to the illicit drug MDMA ("Ecstasy").

Drug education is the planned provision of information, guidelines, resources, and skills relevant to living in a world where psychoactive substances are widely available and commonly used for a variety of both medical and non-medical purposes, some of which may lead to harms such as overdose, injury, infectious disease, or addiction. The two primary approaches to drug education are harm-reduction education and abstinence-based education.

Lacing or cutting, in drug culture, refer to the act of using a substance to adulterate substances independent of the reason. The resulting substance is laced or cut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug injection</span> Method of introducing a drug

Drug injection is a method of introducing a drug into the bloodstream via a hollow hypodermic needle, which is pierced through the skin into the body. Intravenous therapy, a form of drug injection, is universally practiced in modernized medical care. As of 2004, there were 13.2 million people worldwide who self-administered injection drugs outside of medical supervision, of which 22% are from developed countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reagent testing</span> Tests for authentication of psychoactive drugs, and detection of adulterants

Reagent testing is one of the processes used to identify substances contained within a pill, usually illicit substances. With the increased prevalence of drugs being available in their pure forms, the terms "drug checking" or "pill testing" may also be used, although these terms usually refer to testing with a wider variety of techniques covered by drug checking.

Illicit drug use in Australia is the recreational use of prohibited drugs in Australia. Illicit drugs include illegal drugs, pharmaceutical drugs when used for non-medical purposes, and other substances used inappropriately. According to government and community organisations, the use and abuse, and the illegality, of illicit drugs is a social, health and legal issue that creates an annual illegal market estimated to be worth A$6.7 billion. Estimates made in 2022 place the figure at A$11.3 billion per year.

Responsible drug use seeks to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks associated with psychoactive drug use. For illegal psychoactive drugs that are not diverted prescription controlled substances, some critics believe that illegal recreational drug use is inherently irresponsible, due to the unpredictable and unmonitored strength and purity of the drugs and the risks of addiction, infection, and other side effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluelight (web forum)</span> Web forum and research portal

Bluelight is a web-forum, research portal, online community, and non-profit organization dedicated to harm reduction in drug use. Its userbase includes current and former substance users, academic researchers, drug policy activists, and mental health advocates. It is believed to be the largest online international drug discussion website in the world. As of February 2024, the website claims over 465,000 registered members.

Eve & Rave are/were non-profit registered associations in the German cities Berlin, Kassel, Cologne and Münster as well as in Switzerland. The name of these associations is a composition of the words "eve" like some sort of ecstasy-pills and "rave" like the correspondent electronic music events.

Discrimination against people with substance use disorders is a form of discrimination against people with this disease. In the United States, people with substance use disorders are often blamed for their disease, which is often seen as a moral failing, due to a lack of public understanding about substance use disorders being diseases of the brain with 40-60% heritability. People with substance use disorders are likely to be stigmatized, whether in society or healthcare.

Drug checking or pill testing is a way to reduce the harm from drug consumption by allowing users to find out the content and purity of substances that they intend to consume. This enables users to make safer choices: to avoid more dangerous substances, to use smaller quantities, and to avoid dangerous combinations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metzineres</span> Spanish cooperative for vulnerable women

Metzineres is a nonprofit cooperative based in Barcelona, Spain, providing shelter for vulnerable and marginalized women and non-binary people who use drugs, including homeless people. The project was launched in 2017 and registered as a non-profit cooperative in October 2020.

Harm reduction consists of a series of strategies aimed at reducing the negative impacts of drug use on users. It has been described as an alternative to the U.S.'s moral model and disease model of drug use and addiction. While the moral model treats drug use as a morally wrong action and the disease model treats it as a biological or genetic disease needing medical intervention, harm reduction takes a public health approach with a basis in pragmatism. Harm reduction provides an alternative to complete abstinence as a method for preventing and mitigating the negative consequences of drug use and addiction.

The Trans-European Drug Information (TEDI) project is a European database compiling information from different drug checking services located on the European continent. The non-governmental organizations feeding into the database are referred to as the TEDI network.

References

  1. MS; DJP (June 2000). Inside dope, what's in that pill anyways?. SPIN Magazine. p. 119.
  2. "Local Chapters". DanceSafe. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  3. Henterly, Lael. "Drug-test providers have trouble helping ID dangerous drugs at events like Paradiso". Inlander. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  4. Baker, Brandon (March 4, 2015). "Synthetic MDMA: An undetectable crisis". www.phillyvoice.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  5. "Meet the People Who Want to Make Drugs Safer at Festivals". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  6. DanceSafe: Emanuel Sferios resigns Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Online NewsHour: Ecstasy Explosion-- July 30, 2001". PBS . Archived from the original on January 5, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  8. "First-Ever International Drug Checking Day to be Held This Friday". VICE. 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  9. "MARCH 31 IS THE FIRST EVER INTERNATIONAL DRUG CHECKING DAY". MIXMAG. 2017-03-31. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  10. "Dancesafe | Forums powered by UBB.threads™". archive.dancesafe.org. Archived from the original on 2017-10-01. Retrieved 2017-10-03.