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Underground pill testing, down under.

Andrew M Camilleri1, David Caldicott

  • 1Forensic Science South Australia, 21 Divett Place, Adelaide, Australia. camilleri.andrew@saugov.sa.gov.au

Forensic Science International
|June 7, 2005
PubMed
Summary

On-site pill testing kits accurately identified single illicit substances like MDMA but struggled with drug combinations. Ketamine identification was particularly low, with kits confusing its response with methylamphetamine.

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Area of Science:

  • Forensic Chemistry
  • Drug Analysis
  • Public Health

Background:

  • On-site pill testing provides immediate feedback to users at events.
  • Previous studies highlight varying accuracy of presumptive drug tests.
  • Understanding drug prevalence and testing efficacy is crucial for harm reduction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the accuracy of on-site pill-testing kits compared to GCMS analysis.
  • To compare drug composition and pill designs from a rave with police seizures.
  • To assess the reliability of pill-testing kits for identifying single and multiple illicit substances.

Main Methods:

  • Comparison of on-site pill-testing results with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) analysis.
  • Analysis of pill samples from a South Australian rave and police drug seizures.
  • Examination of pill designs and chemical compositions.

Main Results:

  • Pill-testing kits correctly identified single substances (MDMA, methylamphetamine) in 100% of cases.
  • Only 11% of pills with multiple illicit substances were accurately identified for all components.
  • Ketamine identification was low (18%), with frequent confusion with methylamphetamine.
  • Pill designs at the rave differed significantly from police-seized pills, limiting the utility of pill comparison charts.

Conclusions:

  • On-site pill testing shows high accuracy for single drug identification but limitations with complex mixtures.
  • Ketamine detection requires improved testing methods due to frequent misidentification.
  • Discrepancies in pill designs and compositions between rave samples and police seizures highlight evolving drug trends and challenges for identification methods.

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