Erowid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

screenshot of front page

Erowid.org is an online library of information about psychoactive plants and chemicals along with other related topics. The information on the site is a compilation of the experiences, words, and efforts of thousands of individuals including users, parents, health professionals, doctors, therapists, chemists, researchers, teachers, and lawyers. Erowid acts as a publisher of new information as well as a library for the collection of documents and images published elsewhere. The information found on the site spans the spectrum from solid peer-reviewed research to fanciful creative writing.

1 Organizational History
2 Online Library
3 Criticisms and Controversies
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Organizational History

Erowid itself is a small non-commercial organization founded in April 1995; the web site was first made public six months later. It is supported by donations; the site does not carry banner ads. They are committed to protecting the privacy of contributors and reporting on the topic non-judgmentally. Although their primary focus is on the web site, they also provide research and data for other harm reduction, health, and educational organizations.

Erowid can also refer to Fire Erowid and Earth Erowid, the pseudonyms of the two creators of the site. Both continue to work full-time on the website, along with appearing at conventions, producing original research, and contributing to entheogenic research.

According to the site, the creators' vision includes creating a "world where people treat psychoactives with respect and awareness; where people work together to collect and share knowledge in ways that strengthen their understanding of themselves and provide insight into the complex choices faced by individuals and societies alike."[1] Erowid serves the purpose of spreading information on psychoactive drugs, not to encourage their use, but to create respect for these substances based on the knowledge gathered in the database now available to the substances' users.

The organization is based in northern California and the servers are located in San Francisco.

[edit] Online Library

The library contains over 40,000 documents related to psychoactives, including images, research summaries and abstracts, media articles, experience reports, information on chemistry, dosage, effects, law, health, traditional and spiritual use, and drug testing. Over 50,000 people visit the site each day (June 2006).

An appealing aspect of erowid is that anyone, whether a member or not, can submit their own personnal experiences with psychoactive substances.

[edit] Criticisms and Controversies

Due to the controversial subject matter presented in Erowid, the site has drawn praise and criticism from both the media and medical officials. American physician and broadcaster Dean Edell often recommends Erowid to listeners interested in learning about drugs and drug use.^{[citation needed]} On the other hand, Edward Boyer, an emergency-room physician and toxicologist, while admitting that Erowid has a plethora of useful information, argued the site may be causing more harm than good to potential drug users. "Though Boyer has since come to cautiously admire Earth and Fire, and no longer refers to their site as 'partisan,' he still argues that Erowid minimizes adverse effects and includes too much dodgy — and potentially harmful — data in its quest to present all sides. 'Erowid is so comprehensive, and so much of the information is correct, that unless you're an expert in medical toxicology you may miss the dangerous information that's close to the surface.'"[2] Some would counter this, however, by saying that the availability of information would allow any potential drug user to research terms and issues briefly touched upon in Erowid and therefore be able to use the site as a responsible tool by using it in conjunction with other available resources.