Shatter is Potent but it is Not Pure

Dabs: shatter, wax, budder, live resin, sugar, sauce, moonrocks, full melt. These are all varying terms for different types of cannabis concentrates that are available in today’s legal (and, let’s be honest, illegal) cannabis market--one that is technologically advanced and highly concentrated, with advents of an impressively long list of new ways to consume cannabis -- most notably, dabbing. Concentrates are produced when the cannabinoids of the cannabis plant (like THC and CBD) are extracted from flowers of the plant using a solvent like butane or CO2, or without a solvent by being pressed with heat or using an ice...

November 6, 2017Read more...

A Halloween Ecstasy Haunting: Do Strangers Give Out Drugs as Candy?

In the spirit of Halloween, DanceSafe puts to rest the scary rumor that strangers hand out ecstasy pills designed to look like candy to children trick-or-treating on the spookiest day of the year. According to Snopes: The “ecstasy in Halloween candy” warning appeared to be a variant of age-old rumors about poison (and other dangerous substances) being randomly handed out to children in trick-or-treat loot, a persistent but largely baseless fear that’s dogged Halloween celebrations for decades. Despite long-held beliefs that Halloween candy tampering is both commonplace and regularly results in harm to children, reports of actual attempts to do so...

October 30, 2017Read more...

Nice People Use Drugs

Nice people use drugs. Troubled people use drugs, professionals use drugs. Parents, teenagers, and government officials use drugs. Students use drugs, and professors use drugs. If you drink a cup of coffee in the morning, or unwind after work with a glass of wine or a craft beer, you use drugs. If you take Advil for pain, or use Adderall to concentrate, or Xanax to help with anxiety, you are using drugs. As history will tell it, humans have been using substances to alter their brain chemistry since the beginning of time. So why are some people who choose to...

October 23, 2017Read more...

Myth: Everyone is Treated Equally Under Current Drug Laws

This week, over 1,500 people representing over 80 countries will gather in Atlanta at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), where attendees will participate in panels, talks, and other events centered around the failed Drug War (including us). In the wake of this global gathering for drug policy reform, today’s #MythBusterMonday debunks the sentiment that “everyone is treated equally under current drug laws.” On the contrary, America’s drug laws have and continue to systematically target communities of color, causing a grossly disproportionate impact on BIPOC Americans. One needs only to look at America’s crack...

October 9, 2017Read more...

Join DanceSafe at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference This Week

On Wednesday, October 11, people from over 80 countries will gather in Atlanta for the Drug Policy Alliance’s biennial International Drug Policy Reform Conference. Attendees of the conference will have the opportunity to spend three days interacting with people committed to finding alternatives to the war on drugs while participating in sessions given by leading experts from around the world. DanceSafe National and the DanceSafe Georgia and Florida Chapters will be onsite for the conference, offering harm reduction services and participating on the following panels and round tables: October 13th: Join our Director of Operations, Kristin Karas, for “How to Create...

October 9, 2017Read more...

10/03/17 #TestItTuesday Alert: No DMT Detected in Powder Sourced From Vancouver

A white crystalline powder sold as DMT and distributed in small decorative bags contains no DMT based on this EcstasyData.org entry. There were no reactions on the Marquis, Mecke, or Mandelin reagents, and lab notes state that table salt and sugar were ruled out. The powder was soluble in methanol and there is no silver nitrate reaction. No DMT was detected in the sample. The powder was sourced from Vancouver and could have made its way into the domestic market. Always test before you ingest to avoid ingesting highly adulterated or misrepresented substances. Purchase your DanceSafe drug checking kit here. Since...

October 3, 2017Read more...

09/26/2017 #TestItTuesday Alert: Powder Sold as MDMA Testing as 3-MMC

Powder sold as MDMA tested as 3-Methylmethcathinone (or 3-MMC), a synthetic entactogenic stimulant of the cathinone chemical class that produces stimulating, entactogenic and mild hallucinogenic effects when administered. 3-MMC comes in a white powder or crystallized form which produces a powerful, fast-acting but short-lived euphoric stimulant-entactogen effect when ingested. If taken too frequently or in excessive amounts, it can induce compulsive redosing, paranoia, anxiety, delusional states and stimulant psychosis. Very little data exists about the pharmacological properties, metabolism, and toxicity of 3-MMC, and it has little history of human usage. 3-MMC first became available on the online research chemical market, shortly...

September 26, 2017Read more...

Caffeine = Drug

Let’s get it straight: Caffeine is most certainly a drug. In fact, it is the world’s most consumed psychoactive drug, meaning that it changes brain function and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness or behavior. Caffeine is legal and unregulated in nearly all parts of the world. The definition of "drug," in the most common sense of the word, is: “a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body.” According to Erowid, caffeine is an alkaloid and acts as a stimulant of the central nervous system, cardiac (heart) muscle, and...

September 25, 2017Read more...

Early Alert for Imagine Music Festival Attendees: Light Blue Dolphin and Orange ‘LV’ Pills Not Testing as MDMA

We are issuing an early alert for Imagine Music Festival attendees based on an anonymous tip from a member of the Imagine community. It has been brought to our attention that two different pills that were sold as MDMA were unidentifiable when tested by the community member. One pressed tablet is a round, light blue pill with a dolphin on it. The other is a round orange pill with the Louis Vuitton logo ('LV'). The reactions for the pills are: Orange LV Pill: Marquis: no reaction Mecke: no reaction Mandelin: unsure Simon: Blue Light Blue Dolphin Pill: Marquis: yellow Mecke: brownish yellow Mandelin: yellow Simon: no reaction Based on these test results, it...

September 22, 2017Read more...

09/19/2017 #TestItTuesday Alert: Domestically Sourced ‘Dolphin’ Tablet Contains N-Ethylpentylone and Caffeine

A round, salmon colored ‘dolphin’ tablet sourced from Little Rock, Arkansas tested as caffeine and N-Ethylpentylone, a substituted cathinone structurally similar to pentylone. Cathinones are colloquially known as “bath salts.” Little is known about N-Ethylpentylone and its effects, as its physiological and toxicological actions have not been characterized. The pill had the following reactions on the respective reagents: Marquis: Yellow Mecke: Light Yellow Mandelin: Yellow-Gray (slight orange) Always test before you ingest. Avoid misrepresented and highly adulterated substances by purchasing your DanceSafe drug testing kit here.

September 19, 2017Read more...