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...

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...

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...

Harm Reduction Includes Abstinence

According to the Harm Reduction Coalition, harm reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use.  Harm reduction principles include: Accepts, for better and or worse, that licit and illicit drug use is part of our world and chooses to work to minimize its harmful effects rather than simply ignore or condemn them. Understands drug use as a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon that encompasses a continuum of behaviors from severe abuse to total abstinence, and acknowledges that some ways of using drugs are clearly safer than others. Establishes quality of individual and community...

September 18, 2017Read more...

09/12/2017 #TestItTuesday Alert: Square ‘Facebook’ Tablet not MDMA as Advertised

A blue square ‘Facebook’ tablet sourced from San Diego and sold as MDMA tested as TFMPP, caffeine, and methamphetamine. TFMPP is a synthetic piperazine that has effects often described as being somewhere between empathogens such as MDMA and entheogens such as psilocybin, mescaline, or LSD. The notes submitted to EcstasyData.org state: “'Effects started 90 min after ingestion. Some disorientation, slight euphoria, mild nausea. Stimulant - unable to sleep for the 12-14 [hour] duration of this pill. No hallucinations. Slight tinnitus. Diffuse paresthesias.” Always test before you ingest to avoid highly adulterated or misrepresented substances. Purchase your DanceSafe drug checking kit here.

September 12, 2017Read more...