Tests on illegal drugs bought online found 35% were not what they claimed, highlighting the urgent need for more local drug testing facilities in Australia to prevent harm and overdoses.
The study, led by RMIT, analysed 103 illegal drug samples sourced from the now-defunct dark web forum Test4Pay, in collaboration with the Australian National University, UNSW Sydney and Canadian testing facility Get Your Drugs Tested.
While 65% of samples contained only the advertised substance, the study found 14% of samples contained a mix of the advertised substance with other psychoactive or potentially harmful chemicals.
Meanwhile, 21% of samples contained none of the advertised substances.
MDMA, methamphetamine and heroin were consistently found to contain only the advertised substance.
Products sold as ketamine, 2C-B and alprazolam were most likely to be entirely replaced by other substances or new synthetic drugs, increasing the risk of adverse reactions, overdose or death.
Of the 19 cocaine samples tested, only four were pure cocaine, while 13 contained other substances and two samples contained no cocaine at all.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dar.13825
