Hot Press is once again delighted to be the official Irish print partner for the Global Drug Survey, the biggest online questionnaire of its kind, which routinely breaks through the 100,000 participants mark and, numbers crunched, will be circulated to governments, health boards, NGOs and other interested parties, as well as being gathered together in a special HP report.

Anonymous, confidential and essential, it takes just 20-25 minutes to complete and will help separate pharmaceutical fact from fiction: https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com

The (pun sort of intended) burning issues this year include people's relationship with medical marijuana.

"Past work by GDS suggests that less than 15% of people who use cannabis for medical purposes are worried about losing control over their use and a minority report increasing their dose," they say. "But we don’t actually have the tools yet to assess dependence among people who use cannabis for medical purposes. We have not asked the right question or the right people. We don’t know if it is anything to be worried about at all. That’s not OK.

"GDS wants to see people who may benefit from cannabis-based medicines to have access in the same way as they do to antibiotics or insulin if they need it. We want to help dispel the myths and dismantle the barriers to get cannabis-based medicines to those who need it. GDS thinks it’s better to know what the risks of dependence are among people who use cannabis for medical reasons rather than to ignore that it might be a thing. So, this year please take part in GDS2021 so we can trial a new tool developed to assess dependence in people who use cannabis for medical reasons."

The Global Drug Survey is also asking: "Partying like it’s 2021; How clubs and pubs need to adapt.

"While all this will be interesting and will only take 2-3 minutes to describe, what we really want to know is what can clubs and pubs do next year to make themselves appealing to you?" they continue. "What would be acceptable? Facemasks? 2 metre rule when queuing at bars? Table service only? Temperature checks on entry? Sanitisers spouts on every wall? Would these entice you to attend or put you off? We want to help bars, clubs and night-time venues get back on their feet as soon as possible and we need your help. Guided by your advice, they can start adapting service and space not only to stay the right side of the law but most importantly to ensure they are offering an experience you want."

Sticking with the extraordinary times we're living in, the GDS wants to know how people with dependency issues accessed mental health supports this year.

"So, as part of GDS2021 we want to know what your experience has been of accessing support for mental health and problems related to alcohol and drugs during COVID," they explain. :Was is it good, bad, helpful or something else. What’s your preference moving forward? Face-to-face, online or both?"

Then there's the sharing of spliffs, snorters and other drugs in the time of pandemic.

"We suspect that at least some people will have continued to use cannabis and cocaine with other people. What we want to know, is how? Have your sharing behaviours changed? Have you refused a spliff someone has passed you? Have you refused to share your baggie with another person because you don’t want them touching your drugs? Have you said no to cocaine racked up by another person? What have you seen other people do?"

Those, and numerous other questions, will be answered by participating in the Global Drug Survey 2021. Get to it!