PillScanner

Pill intelligence

Global Pill Testing Insights

Historical pill reports from drug-checking services and community contributors — mapped, charted and investigated. See the source breakdown and coverage below.

41,386Reports
109Quarters
6Sources

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What this dataset contains

Published by PillScanner. This snapshot contains 41,386 source records: 12,716 from drug-checking sources and 28,670 community reports from PillReports. Community reports are not laboratory confirmation. Counts describe published records, not necessarily unique pills.

Coverage: 1996-Q2 to 2026-Q1. Snapshot generated 2026-03-29. This historical dataset is separate from the scanner’s current library.

Records by publisher
PublisherRecordsSource type
DrugsData9,897Drug-checking source
Energy Control2,305Drug-checking source
SaferParty30Drug-checking source
DrogArt298Drug-checking source
KnowYourStuff NZ186Drug-checking source
PillReports28,670Community reports

Method and limits. The total above is the sum of the source counts in the summary dataset (JSON); the community total is the PillReports count. Source coverage, submission practices, and testing methods differ. No cross-source deduplication is applied. Reporting frequency does not measure market prevalence, and a recorded substance or amount does not verify a similar-looking pill.

Quantitative charts use the recorded measurements available in this snapshot. Missing results are not zero; a report listing only MDMA does not establish purity. These observations cannot establish why the market changed.

Editorial policy, limitations, and corrections

Trends
All Time
Blue Punisher pill

Featured investigation

The Blue Punisher

One logo. Dozens of designs. Wildly different doses. We pulled 1,396 Punisher reports from 10 source collections across 16 countries and matched them against the press incidents that built the brand.

Read the deep dive →

The Generational Shift

From car logos to luxury fashion — how pill branding evolved

2005–2008
➔
2020–Now

The Rise of the Punisher

From zero to the most reported pill in Europe

Punisher
reports across 5 countries
Epicenter: Barcelona (200+ reports)
Spread to: Madrid, Ljubljana, Zurich, Geneva
Deep dive The Blue Punisher — a data investigation One logo, dozens of press designs, wildly different doses. Every report, cluster and press incident, mapped.
→

Pill Migration Streams

How pill brands flow between continents — first reported origin to subsequent detections

Dosage Evolution

How MDMA content in pills changed over the years — and who started the arms race

Average MDMA content has fluctuated significantly. A standard dose is considered 80-120mg. Many pills now contain 1.5-2.5x a standard dose.
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Avg mg
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Max mg
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High dose %

Reported Substances

What's actually in the pills over time

Not all pills contain what they claim. This chart breaks down tested pills into three categories: MDMA only (pure), MDMA + other substances (adulterated), and no MDMA detected (completely fake). Trace amounts are excluded.

The Fentanyl Crisis

DrugsData submissions containing fentanyl — in this dataset, mostly from North America

Fentanyl was virtually absent from DrugsData submissions before 2015. By 2023, it appeared in roughly 1 in 4 submitted samples. This trend is not reflected in European or Oceanian testing services, making it an overwhelmingly North American phenomenon.
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Peak %
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Total detections

Geographic Hotspots

Where pill testing data comes from

Substance Breakdown

What's actually inside tested pills across all testing services

-- of tested pills contain MDMA

Testing Hotspots

Top 15 cities and regions where pills are tested or reported

Brand Longevity

Which pill brands lasted the longest — and how long does the average brand survive?

--Avg. Quarters
--Brands Tracked

Extinct & Fading

Once-dominant pills that have disappeared