MAPS Bulletin Spring 2014 Vol. 24, No. 1 – Psychedelics and Education
TripSit is a drug-related harm reduction network that was formed on Reddit back in 2011, for the purpose of aiding people under the influence of drugs who were having a difficult time. Since our humble beginnings, the community has grown to include an IRC network, a social media network, and a Wiki. We are, at our core, a network of caring people who for various reasons enjoy spending our free time assisting others—we strive to educate users, in order to reduce the amount of individual and societal harm caused by drug misinformation and misuse.
Due to the lack of widespread, non-biased drug education in our society, we are forced to operate under the assumption that anyone who wants to ingest a particular substance will find a way, even if they are ignorant of its effects or potential dangers. Unfortunately, these circumstances often lead to less than desirable outcomes. Our aim is simply to provide these people with a safe place to come without fear of judgment or persecution and hopefully educate them in the process, as well as providing resources which allow people to make informed decisions (such as combo.tripsit.me and tripbot.tripsit.me/factsheet).
We connect people of all ages from around the world together with a common goal of wanting as many people as possible to have access to information, which allows them to use substances in a safe and responsible manner. Many people ask why this is important and or necessary—but all it takes is a look at the mass media, the education system, and countless forum posts to see the prevalence of harm caused by misinformation and ignorance in regards to drug use. Through proper education and outreach, we believe that it is entirely possible to have positive experiences from psychedelics and other drugs.
We feel the work we do is important because we recognize that for many reasons, people often cannot be open about their drug use to those they interact with in their daily lives. This leaves them unable to ask the questions or do the research they need to in order to be informed enough to use a substance as safely as possible. Our existence makes it less likely that these people are going to make a dangerous mistake one day, such as overdosing or combining drugs that could result in serious adverse effects.
We encourage honest and open discussion about all topics ranging from serious themes like drugs, addiction, and mental health to lighter hearted topics including music and current events.
The TripSit community prides itself in having a tight knit group of members who enjoy coming back each day to volunteer their free time and offer advice to help out complete strangers in need. Our TripSitters work tirelessly every day to help other people avoid the pitfalls that many of us have experienced at one time or another.
Feel free to stop by and check us out at tripsit.me.
Eric Hoftiezer is founder and manager of the TripSit organization. He is a philosopher who believes that shamanistic techniques can be combined with today’s technology to achieve great results, and that through acceptance of non-traditional practices we can further understand ourselves and our fellow mankind. He can be reached at admin@tripsit.me.
reality runs the technical side of TripSit, and assists Eric with management and project work. He is a British student who believes that through proper education and societal change we can reduce the harm from drugs, and even begin to view them as a potentially positive force for many purposes. He can be reached at admin@tripsit.me.
MAPS Bulletin Spring 2014 Vol. 24, No. 1 – Psychedelics and Education