Here on r/2cb, we see the following question a lot: "How do I test my 2C-B?". I'm hoping this post will be a helpful guide for people asking this question.
In order to use drugs safely, you need to test them before you consume them. You want to establish two things:
• The substance is what it's claimed to be, and
• The pill or powder does not contain any additional, undisclosed drugs
While lab testing is the gold standard, at-home reagent and fentanyl strip testing is very effective. That's what this post will primarily cover. Note that this post is meant to cover the basics and will not delve into every irregularity that can occur when testing purported 2C-B.
REAGENT TESTING 2C-B
It's always best to use multiple reagents when testing a substance. This gives you the best chance at spotting any irregularities. Reagent tests are merely presumptive tests. This means that there's a lot of overlap between the results that different substances produce, so there are lots of opportunities for false positives. So using multiple reagents is helpful because, for every reagent you add, the likelihood of a misidentification decreases.
It is important to recognize this limitation of reagents. Reagents can often spot irregularities, but they can't definitively identify a substance. As DanceSafe says, reagents are a search for red flags, not green lights.
Buy a reagent kit that contains at least three reagents. I recommend the following reagents for a base level 2C-B testing kit:
• Marquis
• Robadope
• Mecke or Froehde
And for a more complete kit:
• Simon's
• Zimmerman
Marquis is a great first reagent because it gives a very clear, distinctive reaction to 2C-B, a yellow, transitioning to green reaction. Marquis is also valuable because it reacts to numerous different drugs, so if you don't have 2C-B, Marquis will likely give you an idea of what you do have.
Robadope is the best second reagent IMO because it will distinguish 2C-B from 2C-B-FLY, one of the more likely 2C-B substitutions. 2C-B should produce a dark pink/purple reaction to Robadope, while 2C-B-FLY is non-reactive with Robadope. Note that Robadope requires a slightly larger test sample size, and reacts a little more slowly than most other reagents. Also note that relatively few reagent vendors actually sell Robadope. At the time of writing, the only vendors I'm aware of that carry Robadope are ProTest Kit EU and Grassroots Harm Reduction (US).
Mecke and Froehde are a lot like Marquis, so this is mostly a back-up/redundancy for Marquis. There are some differences though. Mecke should produce a yellow, transitioning to olive/brownish reaction, while Froehde should produce a yellow, transitioning to green reaction.
The next two reagents are helpful for spotting adulterants in your 2C-B. It's generally difficult to spot adulterants in reagent testing because usually the darkest reaction will cover up any lighter reaction. But if you use a reagent to which the target substance doesn't react, in this case Simon's or Zimmerman, you can more easily spot adulterants.
Simon's is basically the reverse Robadope. It reacts to secondary amines like MDMA and methamphetamine, but not primary amines like 2C-B. A positive Simon's would indicate that your 2C-B is likely contaminated with a secondary amine. (Remember, your positive Simon's result indicated that a primary amine was present, not that a secondary amine was not present.) While this contaminant would likely show up on some of the other reagents you've already used, most 2C-B users will already have Simon's in their kit for other drugs anyway, and it never hurts to have a back-up check. Note that a purple reaction when testing 2C-B is not uncommon. A purple Simon's reaction indicates a trace amount of a secondary amine. This trace reaction would likely indicate some minor contamination of a scale or testing tools, either your dealer's or yours, with MDMA or another secondary amine. Zimmerman reacts primarily to cathinones like mephedrone or methylone, so a positive Zimmerman reaction would alert you to the presence of a cathinone in your 2C-B.
FENTANYL STRIP TESTING
As I'm sure almost everyone knows, fentanyl is an extremely potent and deadly synthetic opioid that is sometimes found as an adulterant in other drugs. While I'm not aware of any confirmed incidents of fentanyl contamination in 2C-B, fentanyl strip testing is affordable, easy, and quick, and could save your life. Also consider that most 2C-B users do not use opioids and are therefore opioid-naïve. In other words, they have no pre-existing opioid tolerance to protect them from an unintended fentanyl exposure.
So I strongly encourage all 2C-B users, especially those in the United States, to test their 2C-B for the presence of fentanyl. This is done very quickly and easily with fentanyl test strips. You simply dissolve your drug in water, dip the test strip into the water for a few seconds, remove it and wait a few minutes to see if the negative test line appears.
Fentanyl testing 2C-B powder can be done via random sampling, i.e. mixing your drug well and drawing a sample to test. Sample works with fentanyl strips because they're extremely sensitive - they can detect very small amounts of fentanyl. If you have powder, mix the bag well, then draw testing samples from different parts of the bag. Of course, if you want to be extra cautious, you can test your entire batch. Fentanyl strips don't contaminate or destroy the drug they come into contact with, so whatever you test is still safe to consume after.
Pills are a little different because you'd have to crush them to mix them well. Testing only a portion of a pill risks missing fentanyl elsewhere in the pill. And if you're going through the trouble of crushing a pill, you may was well dissolve all of the pill powder in water and test the entire pill. Then you can just drink the water to take the pill.
Whether you're testing powder or pills, if you don't intend to consume it right away, you can always easily recover your dry drug by evaporating the water in a warm oven.
Getting your Powder Back
Be sure to follow the strip manufacturer's instructions for the dilution ratio - the amount of drug sample relative to the amount of water used. Incorrect dilution ratios can cause false positives. Note also that any second line counts - even if it's very faint. If any fentanyl is present, it will immediately and irreversibly destroy the color agent that makes up the second line.
Even with the correct dilution ratio, false positives are possible. If you get a positive result add 10x as much water as you originally used and retest with a new strip. For example, if you originally dissolved 50mg of drug in 5ml of water, add another 50ml of water and retest. Always buy multiple fentanyl strips so you can repeat the test in the event of a false positive or defective strip.
More Detail about Fentanyl Strips and the False Positive Issue
Finally, while fentanyl testing is extremely effective, it never hurts to have a backup precaution in place. Narcan is a nasal spray version of the potent and fast acting opioid blocking drug, Naloxone. Get some Narcan and keep it with you whenever you use drugs, whatever drugs those may be. Carry Naloxone - Never Use Alone.
LAB TESTING
Lab testing is the gold standard of drug testing. It can definitively identify your substance, spot adulterants or impurities that reagents cannot, and even sometimes identify those adulterants.
There's several labs that accept samples of controlled substances in this list curated by the r/reagenttesting moderation team:
Analytical Drug Testing Labs
Thank you so much for reading this post! If you have any comments, corrections, additions, or questions, please leave them below. Stay safe and happy rolling!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
r/reagenttesting - post results photos and videos of your test results, and get help from reagent test vendors and other knowledgeable people
Reagent and Fentanyl Strip Vendors (International)
Find Naloxone and Sterile Syringes (United States)
