Can you be a parent and an activist?
I am consumed by a difficult realization I’ve come to lately. The care my children need to be as protected as possible under the conditions of capitalism outstrips…
Author: Hilary Agro
How can we save ourselves?
I’m an anthropologist doing my PhD on activism and organizing. I’ve also been an organizer myself for over a decade, primarily focusing on drug policy, but also coalition-building…
Safety Dance: Covid Harm Reduction for the Rave Scene
No one wants to talk about this. We all hate it. We’re tired. Believe me, I feel that tiredness in my bones. And I know you’re busy and…
Radical action for Palestine: Here’s what to do
Are you struggling to know what to do about Palestine right now? As an organizer, I have advice for you. Please share this article widely (here it is…
Community organizers were arrested for providing a safe supply. They need our solidarity.
Skip to the action steps You know how we’ve been fighting to legalize and regulate drugs, so people have access to a safe supply? Well, two community organizers…
The last free words of a cannabis prisoner
My friend Daniel Muessig went to prison today. A former criminal defense attorney himself, he sold cannabis in Pennsylvania, a state where it’s legal. But it’s still illegal…
The Fear: Working through the apocalypse
I don’t know what’s right and what’s real anymore I don’t know how I’m meant to feel anymore When do you think it will all become clear ‘Cause…
Marxism is amphetamines, biopolitics is cocaine: Social science theories as drugs.
Okay so hear me out, I have a new bit: Social science theories as drugs. Biopolitics is cocaine. I like it in small doses, and I can see…
Meet nitrous oxide: the fun drug that, because of prohibition, is terrible for the environment
The War on Drugs is an expensive, harmful disaster. It’s the most destructive and racist set of policies that exist in the modern era. But! Did you know that…
Fear and Loathing in Atlanta
Content warning: racism, violence, mention of miscarriage. I was on my way to the airplane that would take me back home, to Canada. I boarded the train between…
How to convince people that drugs need to be legalized: a guide for getting normies on board.
I’ve developed a really nerdy, but kickass, superpower. Give me twenty minutes of one-on-one conversation time with a person, any person, and they will come out of that…
Alright, let’s talk about GHB: A user’s guide.
When it kicks in, it feels like meeting an old friend for the first time. – Daniel, 34 Few drugs are as misunderstood and stigmatized as GHB (except for…
Being a grad student with ADHD: An ode to constant ontological uncertainty.
[Hi. I’m back. I’m digressing from my usual topics to get a little cathartic and personal for a bit. Don’t worry, for the next post we’ll be back…
Why abstinence-only drug education doesn’t work—in fact, it backfires spectacularly.
I talked to a lot of middle-class recreational drug users for my research. None of them had any idea when they were younger that they’d end up dropping…
The intangible narcotic: What does ‘vibe’ mean, really?
There’s a term that comes up pretty frequently when talking about electronic music events. A search within my interviews (excepts from which are quoted here) and field notes…
Feelings into words: Harvest Festival Part 2
Describing, in words, what it’s like to be at a rave is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do for my research. How can one…
Yin and yang at Harvest Festival: Part 1
NOTE: I will not be discussing my regular research topic (drug use) in this post, out of respect to the organizers of Harvest. All names have been changed.…
Drugs are… good? No, that can’t be right. Can it?
Like most academics, I’m obsessive. I spend a lot of my free time doing searches for new research on recreational drug use. I do this partly because there’s…
“Drugs are bad,” he said, sipping his beer: Legality vs. social acceptability
I’ve found it highly interesting to hear drug users trash talk other drugs, even while they’re high on their own preferred substance. Gina* thinks that alcohol is the…
A state of trance: Inner peace rising from chaos
The experience of getting inside Sound Academy for Armin van Buuren was the low point of the night. After an evening of rain and dancing at the electronic…
A happy ending for 30,000 mollyed-out kids running around Toronto.
My heart dropped into my stomach when I first saw the announcement. Fireworks and junk during Zedd’s finale. “You’re welcome for this 3-second photo op,” thought the cleanup…
Psytrance, a world unto itself
Most of what I knew about psytrance (psychedelic trance) raves before I actually went to one came from this article in Vice: Psytrance really is a counter-culture in…
Field Notes: This data collection is interfering with my dancing.
The following is a selection of some of the more entertaining notes from my first official field research night. (The last post was a preliminary getting-a-feel-for-things outing.) I…
Eat, sleep, anth, repeat: It begins
Sunglasses in the darkness. White shorts, no shirt. Perspiration shining on his skin in the wild, flashing lights. A familiar-looking backpack on his shoulders, strapped over his muscular…