I am the author of The Drug Users Bible, which is described by Amazon as follows:
“Over a 12 year period the author of this book self-administered over 180 psychoactive substances; both chemicals and plants. For each he recorded the life-sensitive safety data, including the anticipated onset times, the common threshold doses, the routes of administration, and the expected duration of the experience. In addition, for every compound he also produced a trip report, detailing the qualitative experience itself. This delivered another invaluable insight, enabling, for example, an objective assessment of the extent of any loss of judgement and self-control.”
It was
quite a journey, but it wasn’t one which I undertook entirely in my small
office in the North-West of England. I travelled; initially to source drugs,
but equally to experience as many as I could in an authentic or traditional
setting.
As the
project progressed I found myself increasingly interested in the cultural
aspects of the enterprise, and was drawn to visit locations with a drug
association even if I had already tested and documented the relevant substance
in the UK. I was soon taking photographs not only of obvious drug iconography,
but of objects and scenes with only the most tenuous of links. By the end of this decade-long period I had
accumulated thousands upon thousands of photographs, including of course of the
actual drugs themselves.
If The Drug Users Bible recorded my journey
through a myriad of conscious states, these photographs presented the physical
real-life journey whilst experiencing them. In some sense, the latter could perhaps
be described as the sound track to the
former (albeit visual).
Although
my collection is unique, and some of the photographs can never be replicated,
the idea of publishing them didn’t occur to me until the end of 2024. By this
time my book, in its various forms, had reached hundreds of thousands of drug
consumers; possibly more. However, the ongoing objective, of getting the vital
information it contains into the hands of those who most needed it, remained.
With a
book of this nature this was always a challenge, not least because the
mainstream media was never going to cover it, and traditional social media
would inevitably (algorithmically) throttle its exposure.
I overcame
this with the help of a few isolated islands of compassion on the clearnet, but
largely via support from many of the most significant players on the darknet.
These parties understood clearly that whereas drugs are dispensed by medical
practitioners alongside harm reduction information (dose, duration, etc),
recreational drug consumers are usually left bereft of such essential
data. Very soon the (free) PDF version
of the book was being supplied globally by Dread,
by darknet directories and by the drug markets themselves at point of drug
sale.
Despite
this unexpected measure of success, I still believed that more could be done to
overcome the obstructions within the traditional landscape. It was at this
juncture that the idea of using the photographs occurred.
What if I produced an album of selected photographs of drug relevant destinations, of related scenes, and of the drugs themselves? A few thoughts sprung to mind:
I could reference appropriate segments of The Drug Users Bible throughout, thus re-enforcing the need to take harm reduction seriously, and providing direction on where exactly to obtain vital safety information.
Patrons who had not yet heard of it might be attracted sufficiently to at least download it, again promoting essential awareness and education.
Increasingly,
another dimension began to emerge. The lack of comprehensive guidance for
travellers with our particular interest in terms of physical safety and, of
course, law enforcement, was very apparent. I had learned a lot on my travels,
including with respect to risk mitigation: perhaps I could pass some of this on
too.
I was very
quickly sold on the concept: after all, what was there to lose? Yes, I may well
come across as a bit of a weirdo in full colour, but in all honesty, I crossed
that bridge years ago.
Where a city or location was particularly rich in drug iconography I created a specific section. Where this didn’t apply I tended to collate by country or region. From this, a few issues emerge which are probably worth stressing:
All locations are presented exactly as I found them: nothing more nothing less. If I missed something which you believe should have been included, this wasn’t intentional.
In a number of countries I failed to find anything sufficiently related to drug culture to include. Rest assured that I did try, so no offence is intended to any of those.
The quality of my equipment improved as the journey proceeded. In other words, some of the earlier photographs may leave a bit to be desired. Perhaps to some extent they reflect the historical/technical evolution of the quality of digital phone cameras.
As the album took shape, I began to maturate the idea that it might help to preserve a smidgen of 21st century drug culture for history/posterity. Fundamentally though, it documents a journey: my own drug-obsessed journey across six continents over those years. Whilst this may provide some sort of feel for each location from a drug consumer’s perspective, hopefully it will also help to normalize our community in terms of public perception, and reduce stigmatisation. We travel. We go on holidays. We are normal and we have rights too.
Note that
I included the section on alcohol partly because alcohol is a drug, and partly
because I felt that it might make the overall content relatable to more people.
Having stated this, do bear in mind that more than 250 million people choose to
use drugs described as illicit by the
UN.
Finally,
this remains a photograph album. Whilst I may provide an occasional hint
regarding the story behind some of the photographs, I expect that even at this
early stage you know where you can find the long form words themselves.
Bon voyage… but stay safe, stay free and stay healthy.
Dominic Milton Trott