Whatever your reasons are for taking a psychoactive or psychedelic substance, it is crucial that you know if the substance consists of what the provider claims it to be or if it has entirely different substance. With this, you need to ensure that the pill or powder is pure and safe from illicit substances.

The good news is that there are inexpensive test kits on the market that can be utilised to spot-test a pill or powder. The tests include the following:

Marquis reagent test

The marquis reagent test kit is a spot-test to identify the presence of MDMA. This test will change in color depending on the type of reagent it detects in the sample. There is a guide that can help you read the test results. Aside from MDMA (purple to black color), it can also react to amphetamine (strong reddish-orange to dark reddish brown color) and methamphetamine (deep reddish-orange to dark reddish brown color).

Additionally, the Marquis reagent test reacts to morphine (deep purplish red color), heroin (deep purplish red color), methylone (yellow color), DXM (gray to black color), 2C-B (yellow to green color), 2C-I (yellow to green color), Sugar (dark brown color), and Aspirin (pink to deep red color).

Mecke reagent test

The Mecke reagent test should be used as a follow-up test next to Marquis reagent. This test reacts to MDMA. As with Maquis reagent, it is conducted by putting a drop of liquid reagent into the sample material. Mecke reagent can also identify opiates and heroin.

Mandelin reagent test

The Mandelin reagent is primarily used to identify PMA and ketamine. It is made of ammonium metavanadate as well as concentrated sulfuric acid to detect alkaloids and other compounds.

Basically, this reagent test is useful for identifying dangerous contaminants, especially in the market ecstasy. The results will be yellow in color but yellow complicates the color reaction. For instance, the final color produced by Mandelin reagent with ketamine is deep reddish orange while MMDA is bluish black.

Simon reagent test

The Simon reagent test can detect MDMA and MDA. If it is MDMA, it will change to color purple but if it is MDA, it will not react at all. When considering this test, you must know that it has two parts – a single drop of the first chemical is immersed unto the substance in question then the baking soda is dripped unto the substance. This is when the color change happens. If MDMA is present, it should turn to dark blue.

Ehrlich reagent test

Ehrlich reagent test is the go-to test when there is a need to identify possible psychoactive compounds like ergoloids (or LSD) and tryptamines (like DMT). Aside from these, Ehrlich reagent can also detect opium.

Bottom Line

While reagents test can be useful in detecting the presence of a specific substance, it is not capable of identifying its overall composition. This means that if you need a more accurate test to ensure the substance’s purity, it is recommended that you send a sample to a laboratory for thorough analysis.