Drug-Checking in Germany
Currently, no services allowing a comprehensive analysis of illegally acquired psychoactive substances exist in Germany. In order for individuals to test illegal substances, they must bring samples of the substance to pharmacies and pay a fee to receive what is often an incomplete and purely qualitative result concerning the active ingredients. A quantitative analysis (currently available at the Central laboratory for German pharmacists) is too time consuming and costly to be used as a low threshold instrument for health protection. Moreover, the counselling aims and options in pharmacies are not geared toward harm reduction for drug users. At dance events, illegally acquired pills and powders are tested using Marquis reagen (rapid test procedure). However, this analysis also does not provide enough information about which substances are present in what quantity in the tested samples.
