Berlin has introduced a free drug testing service that will anonymously analyze and detect the chemical components of the substance to be consumed.
The State Department of Health in Berlin announced that the State Institute for Forensic and Social Medicine will test the substances, checking them for composition and purity.
The results will then be sent to three counseling centers and will become available to those who initially submitted the substance in around three days.
Employees would then explain the results and answer questions, all anonymously, and offer further consultation if needed.
Drugs that can be tested by the project, which is called Drug Checking, include “party drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy, speed, coke, and LSD.”
Drug checking is not new in Berlin, or even Europe, as in the mid-1990s during the Love Parade, the “Eve & Rave” association tested party drugs before the procedure was banned.
Furthermore, testing is becoming a more acceptable form of harm reduction as Ireland‘s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has rolled out the second phase of their drug monitoring project as part of the “Safer Nightlife Program” that focuses on back-of-house substance testing.
And for those concerned with the implications that testing could increase drug usage, a study from The Loop and Liverpool University found that on-site drug testing at festivals can make festivals safer, doesn’t increase the usage of drugs, and can reduce the risk of death.
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