In just over 48 hours, over 7,100 people from all over the world have completed a unique online survey on their experience of taking drugs, from cocaine and mephedrone to alcohol and pain killers.

This means the survey, designed by Global Drug Survey and Mixmag in partnership with the Guardian, could potentially become the biggest of its kind, and an extraordinary source of data about what drugs people use, how often they take them, and the consequences - medical, social and legal - of taking them.

I spoke to the survey's creator, consultant addictions psychiatrist Dr Adam Winstock this morning. He said:

"It is not much more than a day old but already this year's drug survey has surpassed any other survey of it's kind ever conducted. We are on track to be the largest study of drug use of any kind ever undertaken in the UK, and if our overseas interest keeps up one of the largest in the world ever."

Winstock hopes that the survey will enable a hugely rich, up to date and and robust insight into trends in drug use:

"This study will provide an honest description of how people interact with drugs, including alcohol, tobacco, prescribed and non prescribed medications and the impact that their use has upon people and their friends. Whilst most drug surveys focus on dependent drug users or those involved in criminal justice, rarely is there a focus on that vast majority of other people who use drugs, the 'hidden masses'. "It will reflect current drug use patterns across the country and more widely. We will explore the good, the bad and the ugly. Our results will describe the actual experience and impact of drug use on people, from the legal and wider consequences of being caught in possession with drugs, to how drugs effect a person's interaction with their family doctor."

Winstock expects it to highlight issues that will help policy makers design practical public health responses to drug use, such prescription medication abuse and the role of the internet in drug supply. But it will also be of practical use to people who use drugs. The study will inform drug users on the comparative harms of different stimulant drugs as well as raise the awareness of harms related to specific drugs such as ketamine. He added:

"As we have done previously in this survey we will continue to keep an eye open for any new drug trends while monitoring the impact of legislation on the use of newer drugs such as mephedrone and the downstream consequences upon other drug use. Thanks so much to the thousands of you who have taken part so far and those who have e-mailed us such useful feedback. Keep it coming!".

The only comparative source information on of drug use in the UK, according to Winstock, is the British Crime Survey, already one of the biggest in Europe, in which roughly a third of its 27,000 respondents declare having ever taken drugs, with about 8-9% reporting use of any drug during the previous year. Over 5,000 UK-based respondents have completed the GDS/Mixmag/Guardian survey so far.

The survey has run as a predominantly UK-based project for some years. But the involvement of the Guardian, with its global reach, has massively widened its scope. Respondents to the survey have so far come from the USA, Australia, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Thailand, Denmark, Brazil, Poland and even Malawi and Benin.

Since its launch yesterday, over twice as many people have completed the survey as did in the whole of last year's project, which collected data over several months. The Guardian web page announcing the survey has received over 53,000 views in just over 48 hours.

Drugs covered by the survey include cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, ketamine, mephedrone, alcohol, tobacco, "legal highs", and prescription medicines such as temazepam, Viagra and opioid painkillers.

The survey is run by Global Drug Survey, and is hosted on their website. The survey is entirely anonymous and takes 20-25 minutes to complete. You can access the survey here

You can read Mixmag's Global Drug Survey's results from the 2011 and 2010 surveys here.

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