#TestIt Alert: White rectangular “bar” pill with three score lines, “XANAX” stamped into one side, and “2” stamped into the other sold in the Bay Area, CA as Xanax (alprazolam) but actually contains an unidentified chemical, cyproheptadine, amantadine, chlorpheniramine, doxepin, etizolam, promethazine, and melatonin

By: Rachel Clark, DanceSafe Intern A white rectangular “bar” pill with three score lines, “XANAX” stamped into one side, and “2” stamped into the other was sold in the Bay Area, CA as Xanax (alprazolam) but actually contained an unidentified chemical, cyproheptadine, amantadine, chlorpheniramine, doxepin, etizolam, promethazine, and melatonin. The sample was sourced in Los Angeles, CA and sold in the Bay Area, CA.  The sample reacted orange to brown with the Marquis reagent, a very slight brown change with the Mecke reagent, and light brown with the Mandelin reagent.  Unidentified...

#TestIt Alert: Green-blue circular tablet with tan speckles and “A1” stamped on one side sold in the Bay Area, CA as MDMA but actually contains caffeine, MDA, and methylsulfonylmethane

By: Rachel Clark, DanceSafe Intern A round green-blue pill with splotches of tan/brown and “A1” stamped into one side was sold as MDMA in the Bay Area, CA, but actually contains caffeine, MDA, and methylsulfonylmethane. The sample was sourced in Los Angeles, CA, and submitted from the Bay Area, CA.  The sample reacted purple with the Marquis reagent, purple to blue to black with the Mecke reagent, and purple to brown with the Mandelin reagent.  MDA is traditionally considered to be more psychedelic and stimulating than MDMA, with...

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...

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...

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...

D.A.R.E to Resist Poor Drug Education

“D.A.R.E. - To Keep Kids Off Drugs.” If you were a kid growing up in the 80’s or 90’s, you remember this slogan. You might also remember going through the program in your elementary school, where police officers would come speak in your classroom and tell you to “Just Say No” to drugs. After years of evidence demonstrating the program’s ineffectiveness in actually reducing drug use among teens and adolescents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has called for a reinstatement of the program. The D.A.R.E. program was founded in 1983 as a partnership between the Los Angeles Police...

Let’s Celebrate Freedom When Drugs Are Decriminalized (at the Least)

Today, we celebrate America’s 241st birthday. As many would say, we are celebrating freedom. Freedom and liberty and democracy--all the things that make America great (again?). But, while white, educated, middle-to-upper class adults enjoy fireworks, BBQ, and drinking themselves into a dazed but legal stupor, we need to pause and take a moment to reflect on the things that make America not-so-great. Like, say, the criminalization of drug use, which through the perpetuation of the Drug War, has ravished communities and proliferated the opioid epidemic. America incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, and...