'We are playing catch up', warns founder of drug-testing charity

By Ed Southgate, co-Editor in Chief

The UK has 'a lot of catching up to do' in its approach to drug-testing, warned the founder of an award-winning testing facility that came to Bristol last weekend.

Fiona Measham, founder of The Loop and Professor of Criminology at Durham University, said that, despite being ahead of the US in testing illegal drugs, the UK is 'playing catch-up' with European countries that have been testing for 25 years.

She added that, just as we would test beef burgers to check they are not horse meat, drugs should be tested to identify exactly what they are, their strength and their purity in order to reduce the harm that they cause.

Based on the testing the service has so far conducted, Professor Measham told Epigram that users should be 'very concerned' when buying drugs. She warned that, in the UK, illegal substances are 'easy to buy, very cheap and have high purity'.

The Loop is a free and confidential drug-testing service which aims to identify substances, their strength and their purity, whilst offering harm-reduction advice to users. It has appeared at festivals such as Boomtown and Bristol's Love Saves The Day, and made its third city-centre appearance in Bristol last weekend.

Users who get their drugs tested are required to receive a 15 minute drug-safety talk from a healthcare professional. Taking medical and drug history into consideration, users will learn about the harm posed by certain drugs and will be offered advice on how to minimise harm if they choose to take it.

The charity refute claims that they promote and encourage drug-use. Professor Measham stressed that it aims to 'raise awareness of the horrible things in the illegal market', which includes pills being sold at three-times the average dose and dangerous alternatives being mis-sold as common drugs.

The Loop estimates that one in five substances are being sold as something other than what they are. Drugs sold as Ketamine sometimes turn out to be MXE, colloquially known as 'Rhino Ket', while testers are increasingly concerned about the rise of N-ethylpentylone, a cheap-to-make drug produced in China that is sold as MDMA.

Inside the lab at The Loop's testing-centre in Bristol.(Epigram / Ed Southgate)

Ron Leizrwoice, a Chemistry PhD student at the University of Bristol and long-time volunteer at The Loop, expressed concern over the rise of N-ethylpentylone. 'It is visually identical' and 'feels like MDMA for about two hours. After this the user will crash, but the stimulant effects persist for two to three days', he warned.

He added that serious problems arise when users redose to bring back the original high. This can result in users not sleeping for three to four days after coming down, resulting in severe temporary psychosis and paranoia.

Ron said N-ethylpentylone commonly leaves users in need of paramedic attention. More than 20 samples were identified at Boomtown and in all cases the users voluntarily disposed of everything they had after being told what it was.

Approximately one in ten people take their drugs to the onsite destruction bin after using the service; a further one in ten say they will throw them away themselves if they do not have it all on them; and about half say they will reduce their intended dosage after the using the service.

Some even say they will return their drugs to their dealer and ask for a refund.

Professor Measham also suggested that the drugs market is 'too dangerous to be in the hands of criminal gangs'. While The Loop is 'not an advocacy group', she expressed concern that 'there isn't any control over what's being sold'.

She added that there 'must be a middle ground' in our approach to drugs, citing that while they should not be readily available in supermarkets, they must not remain in the hands of criminal gangs.

Featured Image: Epigram / Ed Southgate