Pill testing

Abstract: In this report we present the findings of an empirical study conducted in three European cities (Amsterdam, Hanover and Vienna). All three cities offer ecstasy users facilities for pill-testing. Earlier studies addressing the question whether pill-testing influences the behaviour of ecstasy users did so on the basis of the hypothetical situation that this opportunity was available. Few studies were able to test what users in effect do when actually offered this opportunity. For this reason our study focuses not only on the stated intentions of ecstasy users, but in particular on their actual behaviour in relation to pill-testing.

Abstract: Malware analysis relies heavily on the use of virtual machines for functionality and safety. There are subtle differences in operation between virtual machines and physical machines. Contemporary malware checks for these differences to detect that it is being run in a virtual machine, and modifies its behavior to thwart being analyzed by the defenders. Existing approaches to uncover these differences use randomized testing, or malware analysis, and cannot guarantee completeness. In this paper we propose Cardinal Pill Testing--a modification of Red Pill Testing [21] that aims to enumerate the differences between a given VM and a physical machine, through carefully designed tests. Cardinal Pill Testing finds five times more pills by running fifteen times fewer tests than Red Pill Testing. We further examine the causes of pills and find that, while the majority of them stem from the failure of virtual machines to follow CPU design specifications, a significant number stem from under-specification of the effects of certain instructions by the Intel manual. This leads to divergent implementations in different CPU and virtual machine architectures. Cardinal Pill Testing successfully enumerates differences that stem from the first cause, but only exhaustive testing or an understanding of implementation semantics can enumerate those that stem from the second cause. Finally, we sketch a method to hide pills from malware by systematically correcting their outputs in the virtual machine.

Abstract: Pill testing services could potentially be used to reduce drug-related harm. This study aims to identify patterns of ecstasy use among live music event attendees; explore the opinions and potential usage of illicit pill testing programs and examine factors associated with the likelihood of still taking a pill containing a potential harmful substance. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 760 people attending a major Australian live music event in 2017. The most commonly used drug in the last 12 months was ecstasy (73.9%). About 5% of people who use drugs had sought medical attention due to consumption of ecstasy. People who use drugs agreed “a lot” that pill testing should be provided for free at live music events (82.2%) and that it should be combined with harm reduction advice (62.9%). Additionally, 32% of all participants agreed ‘a lot’ that they would be more likely to take illicit drugs at a music festival if pill-testing services were present. However, if people perceived that a harmful substance was detected in their drugs after using a pill testing service, 52.3% of people who have used illicit drugs reported that they would ‘not at all’ be likely to still consume the drug. They also reported that they would still take a pill if testing demonstrated the presence of unintended MDMA-type substances (70.3%), amphetamines (31.2%) or ketamine (27.8%). Multivariate analyses demonstrated that only increased frequency of ecstasy use was significantly associated with taking a pill despite pill testing services detecting a harmful substance. Gender, age, alcohol and previously seeking ecstasy-related medical attention were not associated in the multivariate analyses. A high proportion of live music attendees consume alcohol and ecstasy. Both people who have and who have not used illicit drugs support the implementation of pill testing services. People reported they would change their consumption patterns according to the results given by pill testing services. The findings may be used to stimulate public debate, and assist drug and alcohol policy makers in the implementation of harm minimisation strategies such as combining pill testing services with harm reduction advice.