Bluelight (web forum)

Bluelight is a web-forum, research portal, online community, and non-profit organization dedicated to harm reduction in drug use. Its userbase includes current and former substance users, academic researchers, drug policy activists, and mental health advocates. It is believed to be the largest online international drug discussion website in the world. As of February 2024, the website claims over 465,000 registered members.

Bluelight has been utilized by academic researchers as a primary source of data in numerous publications. Researchers also utilize the site to advertise research studies, recruit study participants, and better understand the world of substance use. Research groups and organizations that have partnered with Bluelight to recruit study participants include Imperial College London, Johns Hopkins University,   Health Canada, Karlstad University, Curtin University, Macquarie University, Columbia University,   University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan,     Toronto Metropolitan University (then known as Ryerson University), and MAPS.

Researchers have found that the most common reasons for substance users to visit Bluelight.org and similar online communities are to learn "how to use drugs safely" and "how to help others use drugs safely."

Bluelight does not condemn or condone drug use, but instead advocates educating individuals to make informed decisions, connecting them with local harm reduction services, and providing them with evidence-based harm reduction resources and public safety notices. Bluelight emphasizes "meeting users where they are", and supporting them whether they wish to continue, moderate, or cease their substance use.

In 2022, Bluelight launched an expansion to various social media platforms, most notably establishing a community on the instant messaging platform Discord dedicated to harm reduction, mental health, & peer support. As of June 2024, its Discord community is home to over 8,500 members.

History
Bluelight.org was originally formed in 1997 as a message board on bluelight.net called the MDMA Clearinghouse. The board was created as a side project by the owner of West Palm Beach design company Bluelight Designs. 200-300 users joined the site between 1998-1999, but the site's servers were heavily limited and could only store a few threads at a time; this led to the creation of 'The New Bluelight' forum in May 1999 and the registration of the bluelight.nu domain in June 1999.

The site began to explode in popularity in the early 2000s with the rise of MDMA in the club scene, amassing nearly 7,000 members by the year 2000 and 59,000 by the start of 2006.

The site switched to the bluelight.ru domain in October 2005, and switched again to bluelight.org in January 2014.

In February 2022, Bluelight launched a social media initiative and spearheaded an expansion to other platforms. The centerpiece of this expansion is a Discord community dedicated to harm reduction, mental health, & peer support. The community brands itself as "a safe haven for people who are LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, substance users, struggling with mental health, or just don't feel like they fit in anywhere else."

In early 2024, Bluelight became a subsidiary of the Australian non-profit organization Bluelight Communities Ltd.

Partnerships
In the early 2000s, Bluelight worked with reagent test supplier EZ-Test to promote the sale of drug checking kits.

In 2007, Bluelight partnered with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a non-profit organization working to raise awareness and understanding of psychedelic drugs through education, clinical research, and advocacy. MAPS utilized Bluelight to recruit participants for its first MDMA-assisted psychotherapy trial for PTSD. In 2013, the official MAPS forums were migrated to Bluelight.

Bluelight's other partners include Erowid, a non-profit organization dedicated to education surrounding psychoactive drugs; Tripsit, a harm reduction education website; Pill Reports, a web-based database for drug checking results that was initially formed as an offshoot of the site; and the Global Drug Survey, an independent research organization focused on collecting data about substance use.

Notable users

 * Alan Woods - funded the site's maintenance costs from 1999 until his death in 2008.
 * Hamilton Morris
 * John McAfee - created an infamous series of troll posts about the stimulant MDPV.