The Trip Report 07/11
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, DoseTest 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: Adulterated Substance
Substance: MDMA (138–169mg) and 3-CMC
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Vienna
Advice: Ordinarily this would be considered kind of a worst-case scenario, as it’s almost impossible to identify a cathinone adulteration with reagent testkits and the like and the effects of each drug will synergise to increase the risk of harm. However, the MDMA dose in these pills is pretty manageable and the lack of quantification for 3-CMC may indicate that it’s present in relatively small quantities too.
That’s not to say that this is preferable, though. The general eh-ness of CMCs aside, a mix like this increases the chance of someone compulsively redosing, and could also be highly variable in dose. We can’t tell that from the single sample available here, but the presence of samples like the one below indicates that a lot of different folk are using similar presses and the poor quality of this press could point to a sloppiness/inexperience that would result in uneven drug distribution across pills.
Source: https://bit.ly/3E92zdf
MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA
3-CMC info: http://drugs.tripsit.me/3-CMC
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Caffeine
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Vienna
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 redosing in vain, 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://bit.ly/3E92zdf
Caffeine info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Caffeine
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Caffeine
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Madrid
Advice: See above
Source: https://energycontrol.org/analisis-de-sustancias/
Caffeine info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Caffeine
Warning: No Active Substance
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Vienna
Source: https://bit.ly/3E92zdf
Warning: High Dose — 214mg
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://bit.ly/3E92zdf
MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA
Warning: High Dose — 239mg
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://bit.ly/3E92zdf
MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: 4-CMC
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Horsham
Advice: The risk of accidental overdose with this stuff seems to be a lot less present than the likes of NEP (think back to methylone for a better comparison), but it seems to be pretty unpleasant stuff with deeply concerning capacity for long term harm.
This means that there isn’t much for us to suggest in terms of in-the-moment harm reduction beyond the usual (start low / go slow, don’t redose if it’s not working for you etc) and to test your pills.
In this case, we can spot it with a simple Marquis test — MDMA will turn your reagent purple/black, whereas 4-CMC won’t have much of a reaction at all.
Source: https://www.wedinos.org/sample-results (ref: W029028)
4-CMC info: http://drugs.tripsit.me/4-CMC
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: 4-CMC
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Zurich
Advice: See above
Source: https://en.saferparty.ch/warnungen/the-punisher-4-cmc-11122
4-CMC info: http://drugs.tripsit.me/4-CMC
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Caffeine and Amphetamine
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Granada
Advice: Amphetamine presents a specific risk of anxiety symptoms, as the stimulant effects of amphetamine are more potent at equivalent dose than those of MDMA, and unmoderated by MDMA’s empathogenic (loved-up) effects.
Fortunately, since this is such a long-standing substitution, the reagent testing around it is incredibly solid. Marquis reagent will turn orange/red in the presence of amphetamine (it’s unresponsive to caffeine, so that won’t affect the results) and purple-black when exposed to MDMA.
Source: https://energycontrol.org/analisis-de-sustancias/
Caffeine info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Caffeine
Amphetamine info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Amphetamine
Warning: Extremely High Dose — 257mg
Substance: MDMA
Location: Madrid
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://energycontrol.org/analisis-de-sustancias/
MDMA info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/MDMA
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Dipentylone
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Manchester
Advice: This stuff appears to be completely new on the scene, and it’s already showing up across multiple locations. MANDRAKE have clocked two samples in Manchester and, during our sabbatical, it showed up in Cardiff (WEDINOS: W025748).
Provided with their announcement was an early paper indicating the effects of this substance (scihub link below). These results should be taken with a whole fistful of salt, as they’re largely based on crude behavioural metrics in lab mice, but they’re currently the best we have. These results seem to indicate that it’s pretty similar to other cathinones in terms of dose and pharmacodynamics (which receptors they bind to and how much), so we could probably guess that this sample is more potent than we’d expect from MDMA, but within such a range that starting low and going slow would be enough to keep you from suddenly ending up in trouble.
While we don’t have information on exact testkit results, it’s reasonable to assume that they would largely be similar to those of related drugs and pretty different from the unusual responses we get from MDMA. On that basis, we’d expect Marquis reagent to have no response at all to dipentylone whereas it’ll turn a rich purple/black when exposed to MDMA.
Source: https://twitter.com/MANDRAKE_LAB/status/1586347210433826816
Dipentylone Info: https://sci-hub.wf/10.1111/adb.12987 (free link to the paper MANDRAKE cites)
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Dipentylone
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Manchester
Advice: (see above)
Source: https://twitter.com/MANDRAKE_LAB/status/1585561840142192641
Dipentylone Info: https://sci-hub.wf/10.1111/adb.12987 (free link to the paper MANDRAKE cites)
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: 3-CMC
Sold as: 3-MMC
Location: Zurich
Advice: This one might seem like a minor change, but it can have some pretty drastic effects both in the short and longer term. 3-chloromethcathinone, the chlorinated equivalent to 3-methylmethcathinone, has a significantly lower dose range (increasing the risk of overdose if taken unknowingly) and a dreaded chlorine atom. There is a general trend among substituted drugs that chlorinated compounds tend to be more toxic: the amphetamine equivalent to this substance, 4-CA, is widely known to be extremely neurotoxic, and further research may well show substances like 3-CMC to follow a similar trend. Until we can say for sure, it might be wiser to err on the side of caution with substances like these.
Fortunately, that chlorine atom also makes it pretty simple to distinguish between the two with a reagent test: Liebermann reagent will show an orange/yellow colour in response to 3-MMC, but won’t react at all in the presence of 3-CMC.
Source: https://en.saferparty.ch/warnungen/3-cmc-verkauft-als-3-mmc-130722-011122
3-CMC info: http://drugs.tripsit.me/3-CMC
Warning: Mislabelled Substance
Substance: Ketamine
Sold as: MDMA
Location: Zurich
Advice: Ketamine is well-tolerated enough that this would be unlikely to cause any direct physical issues (particularly if this is bombed or capped and taken orally, a route by which ket is far less effective), but being unexpectedly ketty places the user in a bit of a predicament. Even if you’re familiar and relatively comfortable with the unique experience it affords, the circumstances you might be taking MDMA might not be an ideal situation to find yourself in when on ketamine.
If you don’t recognise ketamine when you’re on it, then this experience would be absolutely terrifying. Suddenly finding yourself disconnected from your body and reality around you in this way could have you fearing that something much worse than a k-hole is happening, or even trigger severe psychological reactions. Needless to say, if you take what you think is MDMA and end up experiencing total dissociation, seek medical attention ASAP.
There areb no good options once you’re in this position, but it’s perfectly possible to avoid it entirely! Simple harm reduction practices like starting low and going slow give you every opportunity to recognise this substitution and respond accordingly, and reagent testing will clue you in before you even touch the sample. A simple Marquis test will pick these apart: it will turn a deep purply-black in the presence of MDMA, but won’t respond at all to ketamine.
Source: https://en.saferparty.ch/warnungen/ketamin-verkauft-als-mdma-150922
Ketamine info: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Ketamine
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