Activists Offers Free Drug Tests at Raves

It's almost midnight on a rainy Saturday. Inside a converted warehouse, techno music pounds across three rooms lit by black lights, laser beams, and elaborate computer graphic displays. People dance furiously, sip smoothies, and sprawl on beanbag chairs. In an alcove near the entrance is a table with an overflowing bowl of condoms, an industrial-sized box of earplugs, and piles of pamphlets about drugs like LSD, speed, and Ecstasy. A large white banner hanging overhead reads, "DanceSafe -- promoting health and safety within the rave and nightclub community."

Emanuel Sferios, DanceSafe's founder and director, stands nearby. In the past two years, he has attended nearly fifty raves, from 5,000-person "massives" to smaller, less overwhelming raves such as this one. Tonight he calls out, "Free earplugs! Free condoms! Free E-testing!"

The "E" in "E-testing" stands for Ecstasy. A nervous-looking couple approaches the table. The bottoms of their jeans are still wet from the rain.

"Can you test a capsule?" asks the young man. He takes out a plastic bag containing two clear capsules filled with white powder.

DanceSafe coordinator Heidi Eisenhauer asks the young man whether he bought the capsules at the rave. He says he did not, and she enters this information onto a form. Then she takes one of the capsules and taps it against the tablecloth, trying to get all the powder into one end. "This is the fullest cap I've ever seen," she says, carefully pulling its two halves apart. With a knife, she scoops a few powder granules onto a plate. Around the plate's rim are black diamond-shaped stickers reading "Corrosive!"

"We try to strongly discourage touching," Eisenhaur explains. Earlier in the evening, Sferios had noticed small white holes in his jeans where stray drops of the testing solution had burned through the cloth.

Eisenhauer unscrews a small brown vial and holds it directly over the powder. The vial has a spill-proof top, and it takes a second or two for a few drops of the clear liquid to hit the powder on the plate. The mixture instantly turns inky black, and a faint curl of white smoke rises from it. The couple looks apprehensive. Smoke can't be a good sign.

"It's positive," Eisenhauer says, handing the couple a laminated white sheet that reads: "This test produced a normal reaction. It means the pill contains an Ecstasy-like substance."

If the mixture had turned orange, that would have meant it contained speed. And green would have indicated the presence of another drug called 2CB. Had it not changed color at all, that would have meant that it did not contain Ecstasy, speed, 2CB, or any other of the drugs DanceSafe's testing kits can identify.

Eisenhauer says nothing as the couple looks over the sheet, which continues: "It does not mean the pill is 'good.' It does not mean the pill is 'pure.' It does not mean the pill is 'safe.' There could still be something else in this pill." Looking slightly relieved, they thank her and walk off. When they're out of earshot, she explains that this particular reaction -- the jet-black color and the puff of smoke -- means that the capsule probably contained nothing but Ecstasy.

"That means it's street purity," she says. "But we never say that to them."

Sferios started DanceSafe in his Oakland, California home with $3,000 of his own money nearly two years ago. It was the first program of its kind in the country, and since then it has tested thousands of pills. The organization has opened chapters in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, with up to ten more expected by the end of the year. Sferios says its Web site (www.dancesafe.org), which posts pill-testing results, receives over 10,000 hits a day.

Pill testing is DanceSafe's response to Ecstasy's growing popularity among ravers. With Americans buying as many as one million doses a week, the illegal drug -- also known as MDMA (full name: 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), X, and E -- has become both hot news and big business. Its popularity and notoriety continue to attract new users; doses usually sell for $20 to $30 apiece.