Speed is usually amphetamine cut with caffeine, and there is more caffeine in it than most people expect.
Of 478 samples submitted as amphetamine to European drug checking services, 88% contained something besides amphetamine, and caffeine turned up in 328 of them. Half of the 204 samples with a purity figure held under 58% amphetamine, so a little over half the powder is the drug and a good part of the rest is a stimulant you can buy in a supermarket.
The table below counts what came back alongside the amphetamine.
What labs detected alongside amphetamine, by number of samples
Detected alongside amphetamine
Samples
Caffeine
328
DPIA
34
Unknown
29
1-PEA
28
Methamphetamine
27
Phenethylamine
13
Ethylene glycol
10
Ketamine
8
Two rows deserve attention beyond the caffeine. Methamphetamine in 27 samples is a different drug with a longer duration sold as the shorter one, which is the substitution the Simon's reagent exists to catch. Ethylene glycol in 10 is antifreeze, present as a residue from the production process rather than as a deliberate cut, and it is toxic in its own right.
Marquis, Mecke and Liebermann confirm amphetamine, and Simon's separates amphetamine from methamphetamine, which is the substitution worth catching. Caffeine is inert to all of them, so it is the testing card rather than the reagent that shows you the other 42%. Two questions, two tools, and the reagents answer the first one in a minute.
Amphetamine with Marquis, Mecke, Simon's and RobadopeAmphetamine and caffeine separated on a TLC testing card. The reagents saw one thing; the testing card sees two.
TLC separates the sample and shows caffeine as its own spot, which is why the testing card photo above settles in one look what six reagents cannot. Against a calibrated reference it also gives you a percentage, and amphetamine is one of the compounds the stimulant purity kit is built for.
Half of the 204 lab-tested samples with a purity figure came in under 58%, and the rest is largely caffeine. No reagent shows caffeine, so the only way to see it at home is a TLC testing card.
Why is caffeine added?
It is cheap, it is a stimulant, and no reagent shows it, so it survives the test most buyers run.
Can I tell caffeine by taste or feel?
No. That is the point of a testing card.
What is DPIA?
A production impurity that turns up in amphetamine samples. It is in the library with the sources behind it.
Is methamphetamine in speed common?
27 samples in 478. Simon's is the reagent that separates the two.
No test result can tell you a substance is safe. No substance is 100% safe.This article is published for harm reduction purposes. It does not encourage the use of psychoactive substances and does not replace medical advice.
