PILL TESTING - Bonger Instituut

A whole complex of influencing factors contributes to the first use as well as the continued
use of ecstasy – among them circles of friends, settings, opportunities and
predisposition. Pill testing is no more than a minor intervention within this complex,
which furthermore does not occur until several years after the first use of ecstasy. No
major effect on ecstasy use should therefore be anticipated from pill testing. Our respondents
who never used ecstasy were a distinctly different group from the respondents
in the same nightlife scenes who did take the drug. This was reflected
both in background characteristics (more girls and women) and in their substance
use behaviour (far less experience with legal and illicit recreational substances, except
for alcohol). Non-users, as also seen in earlier European research, largely constitute
a separate group of people within the nightlife scene, most of whom have consciously
decided against the use of ecstasy.
In conclusion, the present study, like earlier Dutch and European ones, produced no
credible evidence that pill testing encourages ecstasy use.
Recommendations
1. Opening hours of existing pill-testing offices can remain unchanged.
Opening testing offices at weekends (the ‘office-plus’ modality) would bring little or no
advantage and would entail extra costs.
2. Implement and expand pill testing in nightlife areas.
This testing modality was found to have mainly advantages and should prove a useful
enhancement to the existing office-based testing facilities.
3. Research on the effects of testing security pills
Although this approach now yields relatively large numbers of pills, this should eventually
decline as a result of market shifts (different modes of distribution and ‘smuggling
methods’).
4. Normative research on the benefits and drawbacks of pill testing
The present study has shown that pill testing does not play any clearly identifiable
role in encouraging the first use of ecstasy, nor does it stimulate current users to take
more of the drug. Although a small group may start taking ecstasy earlier or more
readily as a result of testing, that should be offset by the deterrent effect of the warnings
issued by testing services, which also confirm non-users in their decision not to
take ecstasy. Any determination of whether or not to provide pill-testing services
should weigh these considerations, as well as taking into account the importance of
monitoring and surveillance of the ecstasy market from a public health perspective.
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