The Trip Report 06/04
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 I’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 here and if you need any help interpreting your results, the HUP also offers a result resource here.
Final note: This report does not constitute medical advice. Some harm-reduction tips are offered, but if in doubt then for God’s sake, seek medical attention.
Standing Warnings
As the drug supply has degraded, our list of standing warnings has grown. Rather than give you the same information at the top of every report, you can find a dedicated article here and we’ll tell you here of any updates.
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Caffeine
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Peterborough and Swansea
Advice: This is about the cheapest, laziest option for substitution going in the market, but fortunately it’s also among the safest. Caffeine is better-tolerated than these other substances in itself, before we even account for the fact that the vast majority of people taking this will already have some familiarity and tolerance to the stuff.
Unless you’re specifically allergic/hypersensitive to caffeine or keep vainly redosing, odds are that your wallet is the only thing harmed by this substitution. In short, simple harm reduction practices like starting low and going slow are all you’d need to mitigate the risks posed by such a substitution.
To protect your wallet too, a simple Marquis test can identify this substitution in a few seconds: the reagent will turn deep purple-black in the presence of MDMA, whereas it won’t react at all to caffeine.
Source: https://www.wedinos.org/db/samples/ (ref: W017737 & W017931)
Caffeine info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Caffeine
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: 4-CMC
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Reading and Manchester
Advice: This and the above are looking to become more and more common in the next few months, it’s enough to break your damn heart.
4-CMC is generally considered to be a rather rubbishy relative of mephedrone (4-MMC), providing a kind of raw stimulation without the euphoria or empathogen-ness you would expect from mephedrone with a little extra toxicity to boot. As such, the difference between this and MDMA is pretty evident even before you get to the reduced dose window — milligram for milligram, 4-CMC is about twice as potent as MD.
While usual harm-reduction practices of start-low-go-slow and not taking any more if you don’t get the expected effects should be enough to limit the harm done, this sample is pretty easy to reagent-test and dodge that bullet entirely with Marquis reagent. MDMA will induce the classic purple-black longtime readers will be familiar with by now, whereas 4-CMC induces no colour change at all.
Source: https://www.wedinos.org/db/samples/ (ref: W017791, W018003 & W017800)
4-CMC info: http://drugs.tripsit.me/4-CMC
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: DOB
Sold as: LSD
Location: Cardiff
Advice: Any psychedelic/psychedelic substitution is complicated to speak about, just because the subjective experience of any such drug is as dependent on set and setting as much as it is about the substance itself. This makes it difficult for us to discuss them in detail, unless there’s some kind of obvious risks to your physical health which, in this case, there aren’t. Nevertheless, knowing what you’re taking is important to have confidence going into any trip, so at least we can reagent-test the sample to understand what’s on the tab.
The go-to reagent for anything LSD-related is Ehrlich reagent, because LSD is one of the very few substances it reacts with. When exposed to LSD, it will (slowly) turn pink and purple, whereas DOB won’t elicit any colour change at all.
Source: https://www.wedinos.org/db/samples/ (ref: W017954)
DOB info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/DOB
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Methamphetamine and 2C-B
Sold as: Mescaline
Location: Tested in Zurich
Advice: NO. WHY. NO. Why would you- no, no why the fu
This is an unusual substitution by any measure, and it’s difficult to understand the intention behind it. Combining psychedelics with MDMA is as close as drug culture gets to a traditional ritual (the combination of a roll and a trip is called a flip, with 2C-B’s use having been referred to widely as a “nexus flip”), but combining a strong dose of 2C-B with a full dose of METH is a decision that boggles the mind, and then selling it as mescaline is downright criminal — ethically speaking, that is, selling 2C-B and meth is already obviously entirely criminal.
There isn’t really much harm reduction advice to offer here as the problem is less the physical harm than the horrible experience you’d be likely to have; any harm done is more likely to come from a psychotic break as a result, and at that point you wouldn’t benefit all that much from the advice of some blog.
All I can suggest here is to avoid this like the plague and pass along my disgust to anyone who tries to sell it to you. If you do find yourself in possession of such a pill and want to check for yourself, though, you can test it with Ehrlich reagent: of the three substances that might be present, only methamphetamine reacts to this reagent, producing a hot red/orange colour.
Source: https://bit.ly/2OvfVd4
Methamphetamine info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Methamphetamine
2C-B info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/2C-B
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Pregabalin
Sold as: Tramadol
Location: London
Advice: The most pressing difference between these two is a massive difference in dose range — pregabalin is only about half as potent as tramadol, milligram for milligram. However, these are likely to be sold as pills rather than powder of equivalent potency, so without an image to refer to we can’t really speak to this.
In terms of subjective experience and harm reduction, we don’t have a lot of information that wouldn’t be directly lifted from the PsychonautWiki page below, so it’d probably be better just to direct you there.
We can give a bit more help when it comes to testing though — Marquis reagent will turn a rich orange/red in response to tramadol, whereas so far as we’re aware pregabalin won’t produce any reaction in Marquis reagent at all.
Source: https://www.wedinos.org/db/samples/ (ref: W017987)
Pregabalin info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Pregabalin
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: MDA
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Vienna
Advice: It’s pretty surprising that TTR has never, so far as I can tell, come across MDA before. As you might expect from the name, MDMA is incredibly closely-related to MDMA, the only difference being one methyl group, and their effects are similarly comparable. MDA is generally described as mildly psychedelic and less stimulating than MDMA, but more “lovey” and more potent, milligram for milligram, than its more-famous sibling.
With all that in mind, there isn’t much harm reduction advice to offer here that wouldn’t apply to regular MDMA use around starting low, going slow and so on. You can reagent-test for such a substitution, but given their similarity the options are pretty limited. You’ll need to dig around in the back of your fridge for Simons’ reagent, which will turn red>brown in the presence of MDA but will give a dark blue response to MDMA.
Source: https://checkit.wien/media/checkit_Warnungen_2021_KW13.pdf
MDA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDA
Warning: High Dose — 230mg
Substance: MDMA
Location: Vienna
Advice: These pills are generally intended to contain more than one dose and as such, most come with a breakline. If you spot a pill on The Trip report, odds are you’ll want to snap it and have a half or even less to have the best experience.
Once you’re already up, you’ll want to 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_2021_KW13.pdf
MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA
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