When you’re beginning your journey of drug use, it is easy to get a bit overenthusiastic and end up lost, especially when you don’t have any elders around to help guide you. Akshay spent a lot of time worrying that cannabis and LSD had given him drug-induced anxiety, depersonalisation and psychosis, but he eventually realised that the people who were trying to help him held some negative attitudes towards drugs, and he needed a more supportive — and experienced — community around him.

What is leadership and how can we — people who use or have used drugs — exercise it?

Guest editorial by Mary Ellen Harrod, NUAA CEO

Annie Madden is a global drug user activist with living experience of injecting & illicit drug use, hep C and opioid treatment.

We spoke to 3 people from Muslim backgrounds about their experiences with drug use, their communities and their best pieces of advice.

Robert Stirling is the Deputy CEO of NADA (Network of Alcohol and other Drugs Agencies). He works to make sure every person who uses drugs feels valued and gets quality treatment.

Users News sat down with Phill, one of the individuals behind Origins of Entropy, to discuss the role that festival organisers have in reducing harm at their events