r/harmreduction

hey guys, I wanted to come and ask here for some insight/tips/thoughts on a situation I'm finding myself in.

I go to a lot of raves where I go at least a couple times a month.

I've been consuming ket recreationally pretty regularly for the past 3 years or so, with my frequency becoming more common especially this year.
Especially in the past year, I've probably been consuming ket nearly almost every weekend, granted maybe not a huge amount (anywhere from 0.25 to 0.6g?) but it has been consistent, especially in 2026.

I've been taking a big break from MDMA and other serotonin stimulants, and as a result I've substituted to speed (amphetamine) as a stimulant to keep my energy up when I go raving.

However, since around April/May, I've been noticing that towards the end of my night, I can feel my stomach starting to get really upset, and as soon as the event is finished and I'm starting to head home, I begin to feel really sick...
And it's not the kind of sickness from alcohol, it's like violent and kind of empty sick. I often don't drink alcohol when I go out, I just drink water, and when I'm sick, my body just rejects all the water I drank throughout the night. Even when I try and take small sips after I'm sick, my body just pushes it back up...
I can taste the acidity in my mouth, I think it's bile? I know when I'm about to start being sick because I can feel my mouth suddenly filling up with water.

Last Friday I went out, and sure enough it happened again.. but this time it was the most violent it has ever been and it was honestly quite shocking. I had to go to the club's welfare room where they gave me a banana, and sure enough it came back up again soon after I left the venue. I had to cycle home and it was a rlly traumatic ride..

I've decided enough is enough and I'm going to the GP tomorrow to talk about what's going on, and to see if my body is actually cooked or not.

I wanted to come on here and talk about it because I wanted to see if anyone else has been in a similar situation before, or if they can better help me understand what is the cause (if it's the ket, speed, the combination of the two, lack of food or eating certain foods before going out, or taking medication like rennies, etc etc etc). And if they have anything they do to help keep their body calm and not so acidic when they go out.

Sorry if this has been a bit graphic but I rlly just want to get a clearer understanding of what's going on. I really don't want to feel sick like that ever again..

Hello

It’s been a few years since I got trained in OD reversal. The skills have atrophied and I’ve forgotten stuff. I vaguely recall being told that CPR was not helpful for a lot of overdoses from opioids but when I check Red Cross’s website it says to do CPR.

Should I be doing CPR if someone ODs on opioids?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

Whenever a substance becomes controversial, the first response is often to ban it. Sometimes that's the right call but I also wonder how often prohibition actually reduces harm versus pushing people toward less predictable or unregulated alternatives.

It seems like harm reduction is usually focused on meeting people where they are instead of assuming they'll stop using something overnight.

For those of you who've worked in harm reduction or have lived experience, have you seen prohibition improve outcomes or does regulation and education generally work better?

Curious to hear different perspectives.

hi! i was wondering if anyone has any advice for me? due to some meds i’m on, i can’t drink anymore which makes going out less enjoyable - i don’t like being the only sober person. i’m just wondering how similar the risks are between a vape and a cannabis pen? google isn’t giving me a straight answer. i don’t want to try a cannabis pen if it’s going to destroy my lungs, so i’m just looking for some advice! thank you!

hi! i'm applying this fall for phd programs starting fall 2027. my focus is in substance use / harm reduction, leaning hard into computational and causal methods over descriptive epi.

quick background: us citizen, did undergrad and grad school both in the us. selective research university for undergrad, interdisciplinary major closest to cognitive neuroscience with a math minor, 5+ years working inside statewide harm reduction infrastructure (drug checking, distribution networks, plus time managing people and coordinating outreach), master's in math with an emphasis in data science, plus a graduate certificate in public health. handful of publications and presentations in the space.

what i actually want long term isn't just to publish about harm reduction from the outside. i keep coming back to something like a "science as service" model, where research is leverage to move resources and legitimacy toward the community orgs already doing the work, rather than research being the end goal itself.

methods wise: causal inference, decision/cost-effectiveness modeling, implementation science, resource allocation optimization. i'd like simulation modeling in there too, feels like where a lot of the field is heading and i want to build toward what these fields will actually need in five years, not just what's fundable right now. substantively i keep coming back to stimulant use and drug checking as topic interests specifically.

fields i'm currently looking at: epidemiology, public health more broadly, health services research, health policy, social work, computational social science, health behavior. not attached to any one label, just what's come up so far in my own search.

my undergrad background is basically the wider intersection (cog neuro, psych, philosophy, some math) and i'm genuinely still drawn to that world, including policy and systems science too. i def want a real interdisciplinary program instead of a straight epi department, but a lot of those got hit hard by recent funding cuts and i don't know if that's a live option right now.

within epi/public health specifically, the strongest names in this space seem to split into two camps: harm reduction people without much computational depth, or modelers without harm reduction grounding. not sure how people usually find or build toward an advisor situation that bridges both instead of just picking a lane.

my ask: what am i not seeing? i'm looking for the fields, departments, or angles someone who's actually been through this would flag that i wouldn't think to search for myself. same goes for methods, i want to be building toward something that holds up long term

tl;dr: applying to phd programs this fall for substance use / harm reduction with a computational methods focus (causal inference, decision modeling, simulation, resource allocation). trying to figure out what fields, departments, or methods i'm not thinking of.

The local EDM scene where I live is throwing a free benefit show for the local harm reduction group. I am a part of both. What can I do to make this event successful?