Drug users have warned to not take any Class A drug in Essex (Picture: Getty Images)

The shocking spate of deaths in Essex is a stark reminder of how deadly Class A drugs can be.

The government has repeatedly warned there is ‘no safe way’ to take illegal drugs, but that advice has not stopped people using them.

In reality, people will continue to use cocaine, MDMA and ketamine without having all the information on what is actually in the substances they are buying.

Drug testing charity The Loop has a team of chemists, doctors, nurses and psychiatrists stationed at festivals and nightclubs, offering drugs users the rare chance to see if their bag of MDMA is just sugar or something more sinister.




Testers at The Loop often find drugs four-times stronger than normal or being mixed with anti-malaria tablets and even concrete.

Hundreds of samples of MDMA turn out to be ‘pentylone’ or ‘N-ethyl-pentylone’, which can leave you with ‘temporary psychosis’ and awake for ’96 hours’.

Six people have died after taking the dodgy batch of drugs (Picture: DailyMail.com)

A website called WEDINOS also allows people in the UK the chance to anonymously test their drugs.

The service, which is run by Public Health Wales, asks drug users to post them a sample and fill in a form explaining what they thought they were taking and what side effects they experienced.

They are given a reference number and the samples are tested in a toxicology lab, before the results are posted on the website.

The Loop’s director Fiona Measham said ‘ideally’ people will get their drugs lab-tested, but said there are ways people who have bought drugs can do it at home – though the results will not tell you what dangerous substances may have been added.

She told Metro.co.uk: ‘You can buy self-testing kits but they are not as sophisticated.

Drug testing facilities will be at certain festivals this summer (Picture: Getty)

‘They are useful for telling you what isn’t in a sample. They only work by a colour indicator so they’ll give the colour for the predominant substance.

‘So if somebody bought MDMA and they tested it and didn’t get the colour for it, they will know they didn’t buy MDMA and they shouldn’t take it.

‘But it’s a very crude test result. People need to know that every batch is different and the strength is different, and that’s true for any drug.

‘Take a tiny amount as a test and then wait for the effects before considering re-dosing.’

Guy Jones is the technical Lead at Reagent Tests UK, which sells home testing kits online.

Toxicology testers can tell you what’s inside your drugs (Picture: Getty)

The kits come with a selection of chemical reagents which you drop onto a small bit of your illicit substance.

The colour change should confirm the presence of the drug that the user has bought.

If MDMA is tested and the colour doesn’t turn purplish black, the drug is probably not MDMA.

This test does not offer protection in situations where a drug like MDMA has been mixed with a harmful substance.



Mr Jones told Metro.co.uk: ‘Situations like the tragic one in Essex this week bring attention to a reality that exists out of public sight every day, with authorities turning their backs because they aren’t willing to empathise with these vulnerable people.

‘If people were encouraged to use simple home tests then many situations like this could be completely avoided.

‘The best outcome would be for the government themselves to recognise their duty of care and set up testing facilities or overdose prevention centres like those in Canada, Spain, Switzerland and many other countries.

‘Facilities like this bring people into contact with healthcare professionals on a regular basis and mean that they can be helped much more easily as soon as they are ready to change their situation.’

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