Virtual drug use – a way to minimise harm?

The Drug Policy Alliance have posted an interested article on the role of virtual worlds like SL and drug use experimentation. Essentially, work is being done so that individuals can ‘experience’ a substance prior to taking it in real life. As the blog post mentions, how do you re-create the physiological and psychological effects of taking a substance? You don’t.

So although there may be some educational benefits, there’s also the risk of a substance’s effects being massively underestimated based on a virtual experience.