Over the last few years, a number of novel (new) substances have been sold as LSD. The most notorious is a drug called 25I-NBOMe (“NBOMe” or “25I”), which appeared on the market in ~2013. 25I is still occasionally around, but has been largely replaced by other drugs, some of which are also in the NBOMe class.

Like LSD, 25I is active at a microgram level and can easily be dropped on a tiny piece of blotter paper. It can also appear as a liquid or powder. 25I produces visual effects like LSD, but unlike LSD, 25I has an unpredictable safety profile and seemingly random negative effects.

People have occasionally had very serious medical emergencies or died after taking too much, or even taking dose that had been fine before. During the mid-to-late 2010s, at least a dozen people died after accidentally consuming 25I-NBOMe, thinking it was LSD.

There are many thousands of drugs on the illicit market today, including novel psychedelic substances in the NBOMe class and beyond. Ehrlich’s reagent is a useful and important first line of defense against accidentally taking misrepresented drugs (drugs that are sold as one thing, but actually contain another). Ehrlich’s will turn purple in the presence of a class of drugs called “indoles,” which includes things like LSD, psilocybin, DMT, and more.

Read our “reagent drug checking instructions” page FIRST to learn how to test correctly. Our full instruction pamphlet is also included as a physical copy with your order.

1. Cut off a tiny corner of your blotter paper or gel tab and place it on a white, ceramic plate (or put a drop of your suspected LSD liquid on the plate).
   1. Note: Candies, blotter with purple or blue dyes, and gel tabs can be difficult to test. It’s sometimes still possible, but the reaction is usually harder to read. Gel tabs may take a long time to break down.
2. Hold the bottle an inch or two above the sample and carefully squeeze one drop of reagent onto it.
3. Observe the color change over the next few minutes.
   1. The reaction can take several minutes (up to an hour in very rare cases), so be patient.

As with all reagents, Ehrlich’s should be used to look for red flags, not green lights.

• If Ehrlich’s doesn’t turn purple, you are guaranteed to not have LSD in your sample. Drugs like 25I, for example, do not react (turn purple) with Ehrlich’s reagent.
• If Ehrlich’s does turn purple, you can’t know for sure whether it’s reacting with LSD or another indole, but you’re not getting an immediate red flag that something is wrong. Only a lab can confirmthe contents of your drugs, always!

We do not recommend using Ehrlich’s on any substance other than LSD. Many other drugs will produce unpredictable color reactions with Ehrlich’s.

Note: While there are other psychedelic drugs are in the indole class, most of them:

1. Cannot be dosed small enough to fit on blotter paper (you can only fit up to about 3 milligrams on blotter);
2. Are not orally active (will be destroyed in your gut);
3. Have a strong, metallic bitter taste, unlike LSD.

A purple reaction strongly indicates LSD. There is not much else that is potent enough to be dosed in the micrograms on blotter paper, turns purple with Ehrlich’s reagent, and doesn’t taste terrible.

Blotter can very, very rarely contain the powerful synthetic opioid carfentanil. To test blotter for carfentanil and other fentanyl analogs, use our fentanyl test strips.

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