How pure is methamphetamine?
This version has been translated from Polish and links to the relevant test kits have been added. In a life-threatening situation call 112. This article is informational and serves harm reduction. It does not encourage the use of psychoactive substances and does not replace medical advice.
Methamphetamine is usually very pure in the published European samples. Of 44 samples submitted as methamphetamine, 18 carried a purity figure and the median was 91%, against 58% for amphetamine. That difference is a reason to test more carefully rather than less, for two reasons: a dose learned on 58% material is a very different dose on 91% material, and the two substances are routinely sold as each other.
| Amphetamine | Methamphetamine | |
|---|---|---|
| Samples | 478 | 44 |
| Median purity | 58% | 91% |
| With a second compound | 88% | 27% |
A white powder gives you no way to tell which column you are holding, and the columns are a third apart on strength. That is what the simon's reagent is for, and it takes a minute.
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Telling it from amphetamine
Simon's is the reagent that does it. Methamphetamine is a secondary amine and turns simon's deep blue; amphetamine is a primary amine and does not react, turning robadope red or pink instead. Marquis gives a similar orange to brown for both, so a kit without simon's cannot answer this question, and the substitution matters because the two have different durations and different redose behaviour.
Methamphetamine and cuts kit, 26.53 EUR · Methamphetamine purity and identification, 98.1 EUR · Simon's or Robadope · Full method
When it is cut, and with what
Rarely, and with caffeine, cathinones or MDMA when it happens. One sample in the set contained ethylbromazolam, a designer benzodiazepine, which is an unusual thing to find in a stimulant and the sort of result that only shows up because somebody sent it to a lab.
Stimulant purity kit, 82.52 EUR · TLC purity kit, 84.95 EUR
Questions?
If meth is usually pure, why test it?
Because purity is measured on samples a lab had already confirmed were methamphetamine, and because the two are routinely sold as each other. At a 91% median against 58%, guessing wrong about which one you have is a dosing error of roughly a third, and simon's settles it in a minute.
How do I tell meth from speed?
Simon's reagent. Blue for methamphetamine, no reaction for amphetamine.
Why does high purity matter?
Because a dose learned on 58% material is a different dose on 91% material, and nothing about the powder tells you which you have. That makes it an identity question before it is a purity one, which is a reagent rather than a plate.
Does marquis separate them?
No. Both give a similar orange to brown result.