Frequently Asked Questions

What is drug checking?

Drug checking is a way to reduce the harm from drug consumption by allowing users to find out the content and purity of substances that they intend to consume. 

This empowers users to make safer choices: to avoid more dangerous substances, to use smaller quantities, and to avoid dangerous combinations.


How does drug checking work?

People intending to take drugs provide a small sample to the testing service (often less than a single dose). Test results are usually provided after a short waiting period.

Drug checking services use this time to discuss health risks and safe behavior with the service users. The services also provide public health information about drug use, new psychoactive substance (NPS) and trends at a national level.


Where do the drug checking results come from?

Pill.ID lists drug checking results from various harm-reduction organizations who conduct drug checking – e.g. DrugsData, Saferparty, CheckIt!, or The Loop. Visit our sources page for a full list.

Once these organizations test their samples, they publish the results later on their websites which Pill.ID aggregates in reverse-chronological order.

Our goal is to make identification of recreational pills cohesively available in one convenient place.


Is it safe to rely on user submitted results published on the internet such as Pill Reports?

No. Without actual testing, anyone can claim that certain pills contain certain substances.

Similar looking ecstasy pills can contain different ingredients and or strengths. Testing your pills with at-home test kits or using drug checking services like DrugsData (US), Saferparty (Zurich), Checkit! (Vienna) and The Loop (UK) is highly recommended if you want to be sure what your pill actually contains.

We believe that drug checking results should be accessible and available to those who do decide to take drugs. Drug checking results raise awareness about the fact that a high amount of ecstasy pills nowadays contain up to 4x the regular dose.