Drug Testing

http://www.drugwarrant.com/2015/06/drug-testing/

If we want to save more lives, we need to stop drug-testing people and start drug testing… drugs…

http://www.release.org.uk/blog/uk-pma-deaths-case-drug-testing-and-push-drug-policy-reform

It is therefore a sad reality that our drug laws have contributed to the deaths of those young men at Christmas and New Year. As, “by handing the control of the trade over to the black market, successive governments have abdicated all responsibility.” These deaths are an added example of a worrying upward trend in drug related deaths – which saw a 21% increase in 2013, a figure that jumped to 32% for heroin/morphine deaths alone…

The Netherlands has adopted a very pragmatic approach when it comes to harm reduction for drug users. Here, residents have access to a free, government funded drug testing service, which is “born out of a culture that believes in accepting the reality of life and shaping policy in a way that recognises that human behaviour cannot be completely controlled.” …

Wales have a great drug testing service, WEDINOS. Anyone living in Wales is able to independently and anonymously submit a sample for testing. Users are given a reference number to then later check the results online. This harm reduction project aims to reflect trends in substance use and so also asks users to submit the effects of the drug along with their sample.

Home testing kits can be bought online and can test for a variety of substances. These are not 100% reliable however, with false readings possible if two or more substances are present in the sample you are testing. This is especially true for MDMA – where many may be mixed with PM(M)A – subsequently masking the dangerous PM(M)A…