Why dont...?

[getafix]

people just burn some of their pill to see what it contains??

if it liquifies then burns red/crimson and smells of aniseed, it contains a compound with a methoxy group. This maybe mdma/mda/mdea but the Marquis test don't differentiate between the various compounds anyway.

It's cheap as all you need is a bit of foil and a lighter...

 

[phase_dancer]

There are several reasons why this is not a good practice. Here's a couple...

Firstly other additives can be used to give pills a safrole type odour. Safrole itself has been noted in Forensic analysis of pills in Australia and oil of anise could easily be added to a bunk pill.

If you are familiar with the dangerous substance PMA then you might be aware that anethole (from oil of anise, star anise etc) is usually used as the starting material. Anethole is the flavouring used to produce an aniseed taste e.g. Sambuca, Ouzo etc.

You mention aniseed as the 'odour' that indicates MDMA, but to the trained nose, anethole and safrole are distinctly different.

Also, because of variation in the excipients used to press pills, some may decompose and produce scents or combustion products that may mask or alter the perceived odour.

If instead, you took the time to extract and purify the MDMA or suspected MDMA, you could use the melting point test to further verify that MDMA was in fact present. Used in conjunction with Marquis reagent, this is a fairly accurate means of assessing content. Better still would be to perform thin layer chromatography. All these tests are within the means of the home 'handyman', meaning the materials required are relatively cheap and easily obtainable.