How can I get my drugs tested?
Get Your Drugs Tested is a free service offered by The Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary. We analyze samples of street drugs received in person at our Vancouver storefront and also through the mail.
We use a special machine called an FTIR spectrometer to analyze samples, as well as immunoassay test strips that check for potent substances like fentanyl, benzodiazepines and LSD.
In person drug checking is first come first served and takes 10-15 minutes on average. The wait could be longer if there are tests ahead of yours.
We deliver your results in person, by email or over the phone. All results are published on our website in our informative database.
To test by mail, you will need to email us at [email protected] for our mailing address. Click here for more information on how to test by mail.
To test in person, samples can be dropped off at 880 East Hastings from 12-8pm every day, and at 245 West Broadway from 2pm-6pm Tuesday to Saturday. We do not charge a fee for drug analysis but happily accept donations. Click here for more information on how to test in person.
Required sample size:
Solid: Mix well, we need 10mg, about the size of a match head.
Liquid: Mix well, we only need a few drops.
Pill: You can include the whole pill or 10mg of crushed pill.
Blotter: We need a quarter of a tab.
Be aware that testing your drugs does not guarantee that a drug is safe to use. The FTIR and test strips may not be able to detect all unexpected or dangerous substances!
Click here for important information on the limitations of FTIR and test strips, and how to interpret test results.
The kind of drugs we can detect and test with the FTIR:
- Psychedelics like MDMA, MDA
- Stimulants like methamphetamine, cocaine, cathinones
- Opioids like heroin and fentanyl
- Others like ketamine, PCP, steroids
- Pharmaceuticals like Viagra, Xanax and Oxycodone (we must crush your pill to test it)
The kind of samples we cannot analyze with the FTIR:
- Organic samples like cannabis, mushrooms, kratom, peyote or salvia
- Drugs in foods like candies or brownies
- Drugs that are mixed at concentrations below 5% of the sample (ex: the active ingredient is below 5mg in a 100mg pill)
- Drugs that are active at extremely low levels, such as LSD.
- Most liquid samples (we can test GHB)
- Used consumption supplies of any kind
What the FTIR test cannot do:
- Our machine is does not separate each individual component and measure their amounts. Any percentages given are estimates.
- We cannot test organic matter. Plants or mushrooms are complex mixtures of many substances. They appear as carbohydrates and oil on our machine.
- We will not test blotters on our machine, ex: LSD. They appear as cellulose/paper. We will use a lysergamide test strip on these samples.
- The machine usually cannot reliably identify substances mixed in liquid, ex: steroids in oil. Often, the concentration of your drug in the liquid is below our 5% detection limit.
- We are unable to guarantee that all parts of the sample are the same throughout. However, we will do our best by thoroughly mixing each sample we receive.
- We cannot identify new or rare substances not in our reference library.
- We may not be able reliably distinguish between substances that have very similar structures (analogues).
- While we can tell you what’s in it, we cannot tell whether your pharmaceutical is real or not.
Immunoassay Test Strips
We use test strips to detect the presence of fentanyl, benzodiazapenes and LSD.
These are an easy and fast way of detecting potent substances present below our 5% threshold that could still effect you. When the target substance is present above the strip’s threshold it will register as a positive result.
The 3 test strips we use and their thresholds
Fentanyl: 20ng/mL
Lysergamide: 50ng/mL
Benzodiazepine: 300ng/mL
What test strips cannot do:
- They do not indicate how much of the substance is present, we say it is less than 5% but it could be as low as 0.01%.
- They do not indicate what analogue is present, ex: a positive fentanyl test could be due to fentanyl or a more potent analogue like carfentanil in the sample.