Sometimes the march of drug supplying and dealing seems unstoppable. Type any drug name into your Google browser and you will see thousands of companies offering to send you discreetly wrapped packages of this or that; no need to risk detection, your details can be encrypted online.
There’s no doubt that if you want it, you can get it – which is where websites like ‘the vaults of erowid’ (www.erowid.org) come in. The two Americans who created this site now constantly update 30,000 documents covering 250 psychoactive substances, funded by donations and no advertising.
Where many organisations, particularly in the US, have failed to get the kids to ‘just say no’, this pair have gone for the practical option of information provision – and a very impressive archive it is too. This surely comes close to an online harm reduction manual.