Take the 2017 Global Drug Survey

This year in Canada is a notable and complicated one for drugs. We're on the verge of legalizing recreational cannabis, but we're also in the middle of the opioid crisis. Because of recreational drugs being contaminated with fentanyl, many of us who casually use are faced with the fact that there may have never been a more dangerous time to do a bump of coke or take a cap of MDMA on the weekend. Learning the basics of harm reduction is critical during these troubling times, but another thing we should all be doing right now is contributing to data collection that can help us better understand how drug use manifests in our society.

Enter the Global Drug Survey, which VICE Canada has partnered with this year. It's completely anonymous and confidential, and it's the biggest survey of drug use patterns in the world. This year, in its sixth iteration, the Global Drug Survey hopes to reach 150,000 respondents across the globe. It's incredibly important, and it will probably only take about 20 minutes of your time.

VICE spoke with the founder of the Global Drug Survey, Dr. Adam Winstock, to ask him what the survey is like this year.

VICE: I'm a big fan of the Global Drug Survey and took it last year. What's changed this year?
Adam Winstock: The first thing is format—it's a new platform, so you can fill it in on your smartphone or tablet. Number two is that it's now split into a core survey (which is about 20 minutes for most people) and at the end of that, you're given the option if you want to do some of the specialized topics.

What are those specialized topics that you have the option to complete?

• Cannabis law reform—we're basically going to ask a quarter of a million cannabis users around the world how they want to see cannabis regulated in their country.
• Medicinal use of cannabis
• Drug vaping—not vaping cannabis, but vaping anything else: 2-CB, crystal meth, DMT, etc.
• Psychedelics

People can pick and choose which ones they want to invest time in. We're hoping they'll find it quicker and easier than in the past… We also now have continuous data submission; even if people drop out [while taking the survey], we will retain their data.

How many people took the Global Drug Survey in Canada last year?
Probably around 1,500… It's such a good time to get that information as a baseline from Canada now on issues of cannabis law reform and medicinal cannabis.

Will there be a section on opioids? Canada is currently in the middle of a public health crisis caused by opioids.
For the last three years, we've had a huge section on prescription drug use and misuse, and we've left it out this year just to give it a break… We'll have data on levels of use of prescription opioids, but we won't have all of the stuff we had last year. We will put prescription drug use in next year, but this year, the bit that would be relevant is under the medicinal cannabis section. We're asking people about what the effect of their medicinal cannabis use is on other treatments and medications, like opioids.

You mentioned there are going to be some questions around stigma of drug use in the survey this year. Can you tell me about that?
We're particularly interested in getting that as a baseline. We'll be asking who knows you smoke: family, coworkers, friends, etc. How often do you have to hide it? What I'm really curious about is when you change drug laws, will that actually reduce stigma or will it not? Will it make it easier or more likely for people to seek help? I don't know, but having that as a baseline now is really useful because what that means is we can track the impact of cannabis law reform on things like help-seeking and stigma.

Can you tell me more about this drug vaping section?
We've done a lot on butane hash oil (BHO) in the past… This year, we want to move away from that and look at all the other drugs people are vaping. We want to find out how much vaping is changing what people are using and how they are using. When I mention it, people go, "Oh, you can vape other drugs?" And I go, "Yeah!" We did an essential guide to vaping giving people the science behind vaping… What is it about a drug that allows you to vape it? Not all drugs can be vaped.

What does the psychedelics section contain?
We've done this in collaboration with psychedelic researchers in London and with MAPS. We're looking at three things there. We're looking at microdosing with LSD and mushrooms: How often are people doing it? Is it effective? More importantly, how do you microdose with LSD? The answer is that it's basically trial and error; you get your tab, put it in water, and hope you don't take too much.

We've got a big bit on ayahuasca. What are people's experiences with ayahuasca? Particularly, where did they go to do it? How much did they pay? Were they screened for mental health problems before they did it? Clearly for some people, ayahuasca is this amazing, life-changing experience. Part of me also thinks it's an excuse for a bunch of middle-aged people to get off their face… We're also looking at how people's psychedelic use changes as they get older.

The final bit is we want to try and get to the bottom of what people mean by a "bad trip." We want to try and differentiate between what a difficult experience is versus bad. Lots of people experience difficult things when they trip, but for a lot of people, that's transformative, and that's growth. We're going to get people to identify how often they have difficult experiences with psychedelics, how they managed those difficult experiences. More importantly, thinking about the last time they had a negative experience with psychedelics, would they call that a "bad trip"? I'm hoping what we'll be able to say to everyone is lots of people experience negative things when they're on trips, but overall, that's not a bad trip. Bad trips are really rare, I think.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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