Erowid
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| Motto | Documenting the Complex Relationship Between Humans and Psychoactives |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder | Fire Erowid, Earth Erowid |
| Type | Non-profit |
| 20-3256212 | |
| Focus | Drug information Drug education |
| Location | |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Members
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~2,000 members |
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Key people
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Fire Erowid, (Executive Director) Earth Erowid, (Technical Director) |
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Staff
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6 |
| Website | Erowid |
Erowid, also called Erowid Center, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization that provides information about psychoactive plants and chemicals as well as activities and technologies that can produce altered states of consciousness such as meditation, lucid dreaming, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and electroceuticals.
Erowid documents legal and illegal substances, including their intended and adverse effects. Information on Erowid's website is gathered from diverse sources including published literature, experts in related fields, and the experiences of the general public. Erowid acts as a publisher of new information as well as a library for the collection of documents and images published elsewhere.
Erowid was founded in April 1995 as a small business; their website appeared six months later. The name "Erowid" was chosen to reflect the organization's stated philosophy of education. Using Proto-Indo-European linguistic roots, "Erowid" roughly translates into "Earth Wisdom" (er meaning 'earth,' 'exist,' and 'be born' and wid meaning 'knowledge' / 'wisdom' or 'to see'). In 2005, the 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization "Erowid Center" was formed. The organization is supported by donations, and its website is free of advertisements. Although its primary focus is on the website, Erowid Center also provides research and data for other harm reduction, health, and educational organizations. The organization is based in Northern California and the main servers are located in San Francisco.
Fire Erowid and Earth Erowid are the sobriquets of the two creators of the site. Both work full-time on the project, along with speaking at conferences, producing original research, and contributing to entheogenic research. According to the site, the creators' vision includes a "world where people treat psychoactives with respect and awareness; where people work together to collect and share knowledge in ways that strengthen their understanding of themselves and provide insight into the complex choices faced by individuals and societies alike". Erowid Center's mission is to provide and facilitate access to objective, accurate, and non-judgmental information about psychoactive plants, chemicals, technologies, and related issues. According to one study, "Erowid is a trusted resource for drug information -- both positive and negative". and Erowid has been extensively cited worldwide by book authors, scientific and medical journals, newspapers, magazines, film makers, radio and TV shows, PhD students, web sites, and other media producers.
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Wikipedia