Q&A: Understanding the Substance

BCSP

“Can the strength of synthetic drugs vary from lab to lab?”

David E. Nichols

“In general, if they’re pure substances, you’d expect them to have a similar effect. Although if someone takes a certain dose of pure LSD on a certain day and takes the very same dose of LSD from the same batch two weeks later, the change in set and setting could change their response.”

BCSP

“If someone buys drugs illegally, how do they know that the substance isn’t adulterated?”

David E. Nichols

“Beyond knowing and trusting the source of recreational drugs, drug testing is useful. In most countries that practice harm reduction, including the United States, you can get pill-testing kits, which tell you if the substance is what it’s supposed to be or if there are some adulterants. The recreational scene has a lot of variability, because you don’t really know — for instance, there have been cases of drugs laced with fentanyl. Those experiences can be very disruptive, disorienting, and even fatal. For example, you rarely get pure MDMA on the black market — it can contain all kinds of other compounds.”

BCSP

“Are there best practices for how people can figure out dosage and the strength of a substance?”

David E. Nichols

“Start low and go slow. If you purchased some paper blotters that you believe to be LSD, for instance, you could cut one of those blotters into four pieces, take one, and say, ‘OK, I’m going to see what a fourth of one of these does.’ Then a week later, you could say, ‘OK, now I’m going to take half of one and see.’ You’d get to a point where you know the kind of experience you’re looking for. That’s harder with tablets, although you could buy tablet cutters in a pharmacy and cut tablets in half. Capsules of powder would be a little more difficult, but you could dump it out, draw it down into a line, and cut it in half or fourths.”

This interview was edited for length and clarity.