My name is Kieran and I’m a PhD student at the University of the West of Scotland.
My PhD research is investigating the influence of mainstream and alternative media on people’s perceptions and use of new psychoactive substances, particularly in terms of the transmission of harm reduction information and policy attitudes. Within this I am also looking at government and corporate cencorship of alternative media that deals with drug use/NPS use and the role of alternative media as a site for democracy in challenging dominant anti-drug narratives. Overall the research aims to gain an understanding of these issues from the perspective of drug users.
By alternative media I mean websites and forums like yours, and I have also contacted several other forums. My request is that I be allowed to post my survey on your forums. The survey asks people about their use of NPS, as well as their perceptions of harm and their use and perceptions of various different sources of information on the use of NPS. At the end of the survey I also ask people for their email address if they are happy to do an interview to discuss the topics raised in the questionnaire further. As with all academic research all answers are confidential and anonymised, and don’t share emial addresses or any other information.
As part of the same research I am assessing the content of both mainstream media (e.g. newspaper stories) versus alternative media (e.g. internet forums) and would like your permission to analyse the information on your site. Again no names will be used, although some quotations will be used in my final PhD thesis, which might also be published in academic journals. Although other researchers have used forums to monitor and assess drug use without the permission of forum admins and users, I feel that this is unethical. If possible this is something I would also like to discuss with your moderators.
For a bit of personal info on myself, I am 26 and live in Scotland. I did an undergraduate degree in Sociology and Psychology, an MSc in Alcohol and Drug Studies and now my PhD in the same field. I am a drug users myself, and a supporter of drug polocy reform towards legalisation. I also work for an organisation called Students for Sensible Drug Policy UK (www. ssdp.org.uk). My Twitter account is @kierandhamilton.
So my request is that I am allowed to post my survey on your forums, and also that I am allowed to assess the content of the forums.
If you have any questions, or would like to see copies of the survey and interview questions, or anything else, then please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Thanks in advance for your time, I look forward to your reply and sincerely hope we can work together.
All the best,
Kieran
PhD Researcher
Centre for Alcohol and Drug Studies
School of Media, Culture and Society
University of the West of Scotland
Paisley Campus
