Even if you know exactly what you’re taking, drug use is never safe — that said, it’s much safer when you do.

Through the work of organisations such as WEDINOS, The Loop, and SaferParty, we know a little more about the drugs in circulation. The report provided below is a summary of their findings over the last week.* This report is primarily UK-focused and couldn’t possibly cover everything, so if you find something I’ve missed please contact me and we’ll get it updated.

The absence of a product from this list doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be there; you might have something more dangerous than anything listed, but it just hasn’t been reported yet. A vital tool for any drug user is a testkit, which allows you to identify roughly what is actually in your stash. You can find them at https://www.reagent-tests.uk and get additional support from the helpful community at https://www.reddit.com/r/ReagentTesting/ .

Final note: This report does not constitute medical advice. Some harm-reduction tips are offered for those who have already taken the compound, but if in doubt seek medical attention.

Standing Warning: Mislabelled Benzos

Dozens of samples from across the UK have been shown to be mis-sold, primarily a glut of etizolam being presented as diazepam and alprazolam. For the time being, it is advised to mistrust anything that didn’t come from the literal pharmacist because these samples have been pressed into convincing pills, even sold in blister packs, and reagent testing between these substances is very difficult. These “street blues” have been implicated in deaths across the country, and are not to be taken lightly

Warning: Mislabelled Substance

Substance: a-PVP (“flakka”)

Sold as: Cocaine

Location: Tested in Innsbruck

Advice: a-PVP is a substance with a lot of mythology around it — one of the original “bath salts” cathinones, it is mired in lurid stories of suicides and cannibalism and invariably associated with Florida Man. While these stories are sensationalised at best and deeply dishonest at worst, a-PVP is still Serious Shit. Coming from the same class as mephedrone, a-PVP creates an intense stimulation and euphoria which makes it comparable to cocaine, albeit harsher on the nose at an equivalent dose.

The primary short-term risk of such a substitution comes from a-PVP’s lower dose range — it is dosed at approximately 5x less than cocaine, such that an average common dose of cocaine would be an extremely heavy a-PVP dose. Unfortunately, this report does not indicate whether the a-PVP is adulterated to balance this out (or perhaps it does and my German just isn’t up to the task), so this is definitely a case for starting with a very small dose and building up from there, rather than racking up a chunky line straight out of the gate.

Source: https://bit.ly/2RL5Gyt

a-PVP Info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Apvp

Warning: High Dose — 222mg

Substance: MDMA

Location: Tested in Vienna

Advice: Avoid redosing, stay cool and maintain adequate hydration. Many users will dehydrate through sweat, but sweating also sheds electrolytes and some users have suffered from hyponatremia from drinking only water to replenish themselves. If possible, find a sports drink like Lucozade or, if no other solutions are available, add a pinch of salt to the occasional glass of water.

Source: https://checkit.wien/media/Checkit_Warnungen_0619.pdf

MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA

Warning: Extremely High Dose — 251mg

Substance: MDMA

Location: Tested in Vienna

Advice: Avoid redosing, stay cool and maintain adequate hydration. Many users will dehydrate through sweat, but sweating also sheds electrolytes and some users have suffered from hyponatremia from drinking only water to replenish themselves. If possible, find a sports drink like Lucozade or, if no other solutions are available, add a pinch of salt to the occasional glass of water.

Source: https://checkit.wien/media/Checkit_Warnungen_0619.pdf

MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA

Warning: Mislabelled Substance

Substance: 2C-B*

Sold as: 2C-B

Location: Tested in Bern

Advice: This appears to come from the same unfortunate synth that produced the Mojo Jojo pills in our last edition. If you’d like to learn more about the science behind that, you can find our previous post here, but the key harm-reduction information is below:

To the best of our knowledge this isn’t psychoactive, so short term risks are low, but it’s still preferable to avoid consuming this mystery substance if possible. The psychonaut community has claimed that 2C-B*, which they call 2-BR-4,5-DMPEA, can cause increased heart rate and body temperature: that is still something to be aware of, particularly if you plan to mix with MDMA.

Source: https://bit.ly/2RLED68

2C-B* Info: https://bit.ly/2Kt2jvp

Warning: High Dose — 233mg

Substance: MDMA

Location: Tested in Basel

Advice: Avoid redosing, stay cool and maintain adequate hydration. Many users will dehydrate through sweat, but sweating also sheds electrolytes and some users have suffered from hyponatremia from drinking only water to replenish themselves. If possible, find a sports drink like Lucozade or, if no other solutions are available, add a pinch of salt to the occasional glass of water.

Source: https://bit.ly/2YoKgd1

MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA

Warning: Extremely High Dose — 262mg

Substance: MDMA

Location: Tested in Bern

Advice: Avoid redosing, stay cool and maintain adequate hydration. Many users will dehydrate through sweat, but sweating also sheds electrolytes and some users have suffered from hyponatremia from drinking only water to replenish themselves. If possible, find a sports drink like Lucozade or, if no other solutions are available, add a pinch of salt to the occasional glass of water.

Source: https://bit.ly/2Yq6ISO

MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA

Warning: High dose — 211mg

Substance: MDMA

Location: Tested in Zurich

Advice: Avoid redosing, stay cool and maintain adequate hydration. Many users will dehydrate through sweat, but sweating also sheds electrolytes and some users have suffered from hyponatremia from drinking only water to replenish themselves. If possible, find a sports drink like Lucozade or, if no other solutions are available, add a pinch of salt to the occasional glass of water.

Source: https://bit.ly/2KRpy26

MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA

Warning: Mislabelled Substance

Substance: Methamphetamine

Sold as: Heroin

Location: Hereford

Advice: Meth, colloquially known as “the opposite of heroin” by me and me alone, is a hell of a thing to sell as heroin. I would certainly hope that this is a case of mixed-up baggies, because otherwise taking heroin in Hereford is looking like a hell of a crapshoot this week (see below).

Meth and heroin can be distinguished using Mecke reagent — meth produces no change, whereas heroin turns the reagent a deep blue-green. Otherwise, the most surefire way to check would be a tiny test-dose, building until you have some confidence that you have what you paid for: the dose variance for these substances isn’t too pronounced, but for an experienced heroin user with a high tolerance, your usual dose might leave you very speedy indeed.

Source: http://www.wedinos.org/db/samples/ (Sample W010531)

Methamphetamine Info: https://bit.ly/2IxQRJJ

Warning: Fentanyl detected

Substance: Fentanyl

Sold as: “China White”

Location: Hereford

Advice: It still seems that fentanyl is being sold separately from normal heroin, but we can’t assume that it’ll stay that way much longer. If you can get them, fentanyl test strips may prove to be a lifesaver — otherwise, you can only adopt absolute best practices when it comes to managing the risks of a contaminated supply: carry naloxone, never shoot alone and be ready to get immediate medical attention if it comes on stronger than expected.

Source: http://www.wedinos.org/db/samples/ (Sample W010654)

Fentanyl Info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/fentanyl

*Warnings are also released by local police forces, in-house testing at festivals, and by users at https://pillreports.net. These warnings are, however, are unquantified and often unreliable so they are given less weight.