Testing of illegal drugs in Britain

[B9]

Were one to wish to set up in business ( assuming demand was sufficient ) what would the legal position be ?

I envisage that such a company would offer testing of not only illegals, but of pretty much anything.

Insofar as I am aware, this may involve being expected to disclose to the "authorities" any substances that fall under the British MODA, however communications technology would make that pretty much a "non risk" if handled with a little imagination.

Thoughts/opinions/experiences etc.

Thank you.

 

[pennywise]

Well I don't know much about UK law but it sounds like a really great idea to me. It is a service that a lot of people need yet no one is fulfilling. I kind of doubt that you would get clearance to do it though, as it could be seen as some form of promotion of illegal drugs. Who knows though, Britain seems more progressive than a lot of other countries. I think the only way to go about it would be to try and tie it in with any harm-minimization efforts that already may exist such as needle clinics and whatnot (if those exist in Britain?).

 

[B9]

^ Yeah I suspect that government would object to it being advertised mind you. What I'm primarily interested in is if say you were sent a "sample" of an unknown substance, you tested it & discovered ( to your horror of course) that it was - ah pure (insert DOC) whether, when you published or e-mailed the results back to the customer, you could be charged with some form of aiding & abetting ?

Personally I would suggest the law is an ass( well we all know that anyway) but in a country where you can buy testing kits for complete amatuers to deny people the opportunity for a better quality of HR information seems ridiculously hypocritical

 

[pennywise]

What I'm primarily interested in is if say you were sent a "sample" of an unknown substance, you tested it & discovered ( to your horror of course) that it was - ah pure (insert DOC)

That seems like a good way around it, to just be a generic "chemical testing" service, but I think you could also run into problems because I imagine that there is some law against sending unknown chemicals through the postal service. I would imagine you would also have to do some legitimate business to keep it from becoming a defacto drug analysis business. Maybe you could tie it in with other chemical content evaluation services like soil testing and water testing, etc.

 

[Infinite Jest]

B9: a while back (2000-01) a BLer was running a testing service inside a London venue. I'm not sure what the legal issues there were, though.

Bear in mind, if someone sends you a pill or whatever, you would (obviously) be in possession of an illegal drug. If you tested an unknown substance, realised it was an illegal drug, and mailed it back to the person, you'd again be breaking the law. I guess you would destroy any substance after you tested it, which would get around that problem?

 

[pennywise]

I guess you would destroy any substance after you tested it, which would get around that problem?

Does ingesting said substance count as destroying it?

 

[B9]

^ That is a splendid idea! :D


Good point IJ.


The only testing I am aware of (anecdotally) was carried out clandestinely by a person within the chem industry.

It would seem to me that a brief glance at pillreports would indicate a need for such a service, in the UK anyway.

How do you carry out the market research ? ......I suppose a legit business would be the way to go, then suck it & see with the illegals.