Enter the Experience Vault

Book, 9 in x 12 in, 325 pages, coil bound

Enter the Experience Vault is a compilation of 80 personal experience reports submitted by users around the world to the Erowid Center's Experience Vaults. The book is sectioned by substance type, indicated by the color of each page, and includes five stories for 16 different common party drugs. The book is prefaced with an essay by the founders of the Erowid Center, on the importance of subjective experience reports and their methodology for collecting and publishing them, as well as an overview of the Shulgin Rating Scale — a simple scale for reporting the subjective effect of psychoactive substances, developed by Alexander Shulgin, often referred to as the godfather of psychedelics. The book is intended to communicate not only the range of effects that a drug can have, how they can vary by individual, and provide readers with a developed vocabulary for articulating their own experiences.

The Partygoer's Handbook to Safe Drug Use

Book, 7 in x 4.7 in, 114 pages, spiral bound

The Partygoer's Handbook to Safe Drug Use is a palm-sized guidebook divided into two sections. The first contains quick facts for 15 common party drugs, compiled from DanceSafe's drug information cards. Each drug's description consists of a few pages describing the effects, safe dosage, harm reduction tips and relevant warnings for the substance, and concludes with a succinct summary of this information condensed into a single page. Each of these factsheets has a perforated edge allowing them to be torn out of the book and bound together to create a portable pamphlet. This section is organized by drug type that, like in Enter the Experience Vault, is indicated by page color. The second part of the book contains short articles on safe consumption and risks to be aware compiled from resources developed by NEXT Distro.

The Voices of Harm Reduction

Book, 5 in x 8 in, 114 pages, spiral bound

Voices of Harm Reduction begins with a compilation of interviews with harm reduction experts and practitioners in my local NYC community in Manhattan and Brooklyn. These interviews, that I conducted in the process of gathering information and compiling materials for Test It Before You Ingest It, were integral to developing the right background knowledge and using the appropriate vocabulary to describe the work of harm reduction. Being that I am a journalist as well, and this project was born as a reporting endeavor, the second half of the book contains three stories I wrote in the process of learning about harm reduction.

Harm Reduction Reader

Zine, 3 in x 3.5 in, 12 pages, saddle stitched

The Harm Reduction Reader is a zine containing a summary list of resources for young recreational drug users to learn more about harm reduction, check their drugs, read drug experiences, find local NYC community organizations, and learn more about government policy surrounding harm reduction and drug use. The back cover also lists phone numbers to call in case of extreme emergencies. The zine is interspersed with photos by Bill Bernstein depicting the Studio 54 nightclub scene in the 1970s.

Posters

16.5 in x 23.4 in, set of 3, printed on copy paper

This set contains three posters with infographics related to safe drug use. The first is a combination chart that highlights the degree of risk associated with combining 27 different illicit and prescription drugs with each other. The second highlights different drug types and their associated effects. The last, titled “Test It Before You Ingest It,” named eponymously after this project, encourages drug users to test their drugs and notes where they can obtain free test strips from NY State.

Harm Reduction Sticker Pack

5 in x 9.5 in, printed on matte white vinyl

The Harm Reduction Sticker Pack contains decorative stickers referencing the club scene, as well as ones inspired by common harm reduction slogans. The fonts and colors of the pack are inspired by the overarching aesthetic of the project, and the stickers themselves are intended to act as daily reminders for recreational users to integrate the practice of harm reduction into their daily lives.

Lighters and Doob Tubes

Ordered in customized packs of 6 from Bic

Anyone that’s regularly using substances needs both a lighter, and a doob tube. What better way to remind users to practice harm reduction than by putting slogans on the two things they can’t forgo? There are three versions of the lighters, which read “Cool Kids Carry Narcan,” “Empowered Bystander,” and “Safe Supply Saves Lives,” with the last one being the same message stickered onto the doob tubes.