erowid center
Erowid Center is a 1995-founded U.S. non-profit that operates erowid.org, the leading free online educational library on psychoactive substances. It serves the general public, researchers, and harm-reduction advocates with 112,000+ experience reports and reference archives, funded by donations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1995
- Headquarters—
- Headcount—
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What erowid center does
Erowid Center is a U.S.-based 501(c)-style non-profit founded in 1995 that operates the publicly accessible educational website erowid.org, which catalogs information on psychoactive chemicals, plants, pharmaceuticals, smart drugs, experience reports, and the legal and cultural dimensions of psychoactives. The platform is organized into interconnected content vaults (Chemicals, Plants, Pharmaceuticals, Smart Drugs, Experiences, Freedom & Law, Culture & Art, Mind & Spirit, Psychoactive Tech) supported by a complex proprietary relational database architecture running on Apache servers. The corpus includes 112,000+ first-person experience reports, 10,000+ reference PDFs, 5,000 Stolaroff Archive files, and an ongoing Shulgin Archive digitization effort covering 200,000+ documents. Sub-brands include the historical DrugsData anonymous mail-in drug-checking program (operated 2001-2024 before a DEA-ordered pause) and a recently inherited Underground LSD Manufacturing History Project.
The organization is run by a small staff (with co-founder "earth" serving as Technical Director for over 25 years) augmented by a network of volunteers handling specialized projects such as Shulgin archiving. Erowid generates no advertising or subscription revenue and is supported entirely by user donations supplemented by branded merchandise sales (hoodies, tote bags, Huichol yarn art) at various donation tiers. Its go-to-market is purely organic: SEO, word-of-mouth within psychedelic research and harm-reduction communities, and a modest social media presence on Twitter and Facebook. Strategic partnerships include the Alliance for Collaborative Drug Checking, Brandeis University, and the Chicago Recovery Alliance for drug-checking research. The organization currently faces regulatory headwinds from the 2024 DEA suspension of DrugsData testing and infrastructure pressure from automated traffic, which it has begun mitigating by routing traffic through Cloudflare in 2026.
erowid center firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- erowid center
- Legal name
- Erowid Center
- Website
- https://erowid.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1995
- Operating status
- Operating
- Short description
- Erowid Center is a 1995-founded U.S. non-profit that operates erowid.org, the leading free online educational library on psychoactive substances. It serves the general public, researchers, and harm-reduction advocates with 112,000+ experience reports and reference archives, funded by donations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
erowid center industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Psychoactive substance education
- NAICS
- Libraries and Archives (51921), Libraries and Archives (519210), Voluntary Health Organizations (813212)
- SIC
- Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Libraries, Archives & Special Collections (BPAGAHAF)
Keywords
erowid center business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Donations and Contributions: Erowid operates primarily through donations from users. They offer merchandise (hoodies, tote bags, yarn art) in exchange for donations. The organization also seeks financial support for specific projects like the Shulgin Archiving project.
- Merchandise Sales: Sale of branded merchandise including Erowid zip hoodies ($50 T-shirts), canvas tote bags, and Huichol yarn art paintings ($250 donation tier) as fundraising mechanisms.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free access to all content |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
erowid center product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Erowid Center operates a free, donation-supported online educational platform containing over 100,000 unique pages of content about psychoactive substances, including a reference library with 10,000+ PDFs, 112,000+ user-submitted experience reports, an ongoing digitization of the Shulgin Archive (200,000+ documents), and historical drug checking services. The platform is organized into interconnected vaults covering chemicals, plants, pharmaceuticals, smart drugs, experiences, freedom & law, culture, spirit, and psychoactive technologies.
Product overview
Erowid Center operates a comprehensive online educational platform documenting the complex relationship between humans and psychoactive substances. The platform is organized as an interconnected system of content vaults covering Chemicals, Plants, Pharmaceuticals, Smart Drugs, Experiences (with 112,000+ user-submitted reports), Freedom & Law, Culture & Art, Mind & Spirit, and Psychoactive Technologies. Supporting infrastructure includes a reference library with 10,000+ PDFs and 5,000 Stolaroff Archive files, an ongoing Shulgin Archive digitization project (200,000+ documents), and the historically significant Underground LSD Manufacturing History Project. The organization previously operated the DrugsData drug checking program for 23 years until regulatory pause in 2024. All content is freely accessible and supported by donations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- DrugsData: A mail-in anonymous drug testing program operated by Erowid Center
- EcstasyData
Products and services
- Erowid Website (Core Information Platform) A comprehensive online database providing educational information about psychoactive substances, organized into interconnected vaults covering Chemicals, Plants, Pharmaceuticals, Smart Drugs, Experiences, Freedom & Law, Culture & Art, Mind & Spirit, and Tech. Free public access without registration.
- Experience Vaults A searchable repository of 112,000+ first-person experience reports submitted by users describing their experiences with psychoactive substances and practices, with complex metadata allowing filtering by substance, dose, context, and outcomes.
- Psychoactive Tech Vaults A specialized content section documenting technologies designed to produce or enhance psychoactive mindstates, including floatation tanks, light technologies, mind machines, transcranial electrical/magnetic stimulation (TES/TMS), vagus nerve stimulation, and sound technologies.
- Freedom & Law Vault Information vault covering drug law, legislation, civil rights, privacy issues, police interaction guidelines, jury nullification, and government resources related to psychoactive substances.
- Mind & Spirit Vaults Content covering spiritual traditions, religious freedom, entheogens, meditation, breathing techniques, altered states, out-of-body experiences, death & dying, and neurotheology.
- Reference Library Digital library containing approximately 10,000 reference PDFs with metadata, 5,000 Stolaroff Archive files, tens of thousands of analytical testing results, archived web forums, timelines, images, and flat files.
- Shulgin Archive An ongoing digitization and cataloging project preserving Ann and Sasha Shulgin's collection of books, unpublished manuscripts, lab notes, correspondence, periodicals, and photographs related to psychedelic research. As of September 2024, over 200,000 documents have been scanned with 75,000+ items metadata-categorized.
- DrugsData Drug Checking Program A mail-in anonymous drug testing service that performed lab-based analysis of street drug samples to identify contents and adulterants, maintaining 23 years of GC/MS analysis results. Currently paused pending regulatory path forward.
- Underground LSD Manufacturing History Project A historical documentation project containing documents, interviews, and annotated references about underground LSD manufacturing, with Erowid Center serving as literary executor responsible for eventual publication and online hosting in wiki format.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 100,000 unique pages of content available free to the public
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use erowid center
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
erowid center technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
erowid center partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- Law firm (unnamed)coreErowid Center has hired expert legal counsel with deep experience in related domains to help navigate DEA regulations and explore paths forward for the DrugsData lab-based drug checking program following its administrative pause in 2024.
- Alliance for Collaborative Drug CheckingcoreFounded in 2019, ACDC brings together harm reduction groups doing drug checking. Erowid participates in and promotes the work of this alliance, contributing to standardization efforts across labs performing drug checking analysis.
- Brandeis UniversitymajorErowid has partnered with Brandeis University as part of an ongoing research project (with Chicago Recovery Alliance and DEA-licensed partners) to perform secondary analysis for on-site technologies such as FTIR and immunoassay test strips.
- Chicago Recovery AlliancemajorErowid collaborates with Chicago Recovery Alliance as part of research efforts to standardize drug checking methods and shed light on changing illicit drug supplies for harm-reduction efforts.
- Keeper TroutcoreKeeper Trout serves as co-lead on the Shulgin Archive project, managing Sasha Shulgin's office and completing scanning of filing cabinets and boxes of files. Trout is the key volunteer leading digitization efforts.
- Tim Scully / Underground LSD Manufacturing History ProjectmajorFormer LSD chemist Tim Scully named Erowid Center as literary executor of the Underground LSD Manufacturing History Project in early 2025. Erowid is building infrastructure to launch the unembargoed data as a wiki, with Earth writing code to translate the database for web publication.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
erowid center competitors and assessment
Company assessmentMarket position
Competitive moat5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
erowid center social profiles
Digital presenceerowid center financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
erowid center leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
erowid center funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
erowid center M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about erowid center
What does erowid center do?
Erowid Center operates a free, donation-supported online educational platform containing over 100,000 unique pages of content about psychoactive substances, including a reference library with 10,000+ PDFs, 112,000+ user-submitted experience reports, an ongoing digitization of the Shulgin Archive (200,000+ documents), and historical drug checking services. The platform is organized into interconnected vaults covering chemicals, plants, pharmaceuticals, smart drugs, experiences, freedom & law, culture, spirit, and psychoactive technologies.
Is erowid center a public or private company?
erowid center is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was erowid center founded?
erowid center was founded in 1995.
How does erowid center make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donations and Contributions are the primary driver. The others are merchandise Sales.
Does erowid center have an API?
No public API is recorded for erowid center.
What industry is erowid center in?
erowid center's product category is Psychoactive substance education. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAHAF, Libraries, Archives & Special Collections. Its NAICS code is 51921 and its SIC code is 8090.