Here's how to get your PIEDs (steroids, peptides) tested

Performance and image enhancing drugs (a.k.a. PIEDs) are drugs that people use to change how they look or how their body works. PIEDs can refer to a large family of substances including anabolic steroids, selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs), hormone replacement therapy (HRT), peptides and GLP-1 inhibitors (e.g. Ozempic), post-cycle medications and many more.

As we start to see more PIEDs being purchased illicitly, we know many people want to check what is in them. Here’s a guide to help you know what to expect if you bring PIEDS into a drug checking clinic.  

Just need to find drug checking near you? Check out our calendar.

First, a quick note on how drug checking works. 

All drug checking services in Aotearoa use a machine called a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer to check your drugs. Basically, this machine shoots light through your substance to get a light waveform reading of it. Then, the machine matches the waveform against a library of waveforms of thousands of substances.  

Our ability to check PIEDs is impacted by what substances are available in these libraries, and by issues that affect the spectrometer’s ability to detect substances in a mixture (e.g. anabolic steroids mixed into a carrier oil). 

Drug checking is free, legal and confidential for everyone in New Zealand. We don't take any identifying info from you (not even your name). Check out our FAQ for more info about how drug checking works. 

Can drug checking test anabolic steroids, like testosterone?  

Sometimes.

When these are diluted in oil, they can be hard to detect with our machine. As a general rule, if the steroid is less than 5% of the mix, our equipment probably won’t be able to pick it up.  

If the steroid is in powder form, we can often detect it, and most steroids are in our library.  The same goes for most prohormones.

Extra tip: We can’t find out which specific carrier oil is in your substance, so bear that in mind if you have allergies. Some hormones may be mixed into peanut oil, for example – not ideal if you’re allergic to peanuts!

Can drug checking test other hormones (e.g. HGH, estrogen)?  

Sometimes.

Again, these can be pretty difficult to detect with our machine. As with steroids, the same 5% rule goes, as hormones are often diluted.  

Our library has estradiol and somatropin in it but doesn’t have many others such as GHRH, somatostatin or growth factors (i.e IGF-1) , so we cannot detect these. We also don’t have puberty blockers in our library.  

Extra tip: While we may not be able to test for specific hormones in your sample, getting regular blood tests to check your hormone levels can be another useful indicator. Try Pocket Lab or Awanui.

Can drug checking test peptides (such as GLP-1 inhibitors like Ozempic)? 

Not at the moment.

GLP-1 inhibitors are becoming more popular on the grey market, but unfortunately, we don’t have these in our libraries, so we cannot detect them, regardless of their dilution. Our further testing lab also cannot detect these substances.  

Medsafe has put out a health warning about peptides, stating that there is no good scientific evidence that they work as advertised or that they are safe. There is also no guarantee these products are sterile, meaning they could cause infection if injected. 

However, it's still a good idea to bring your peptides in to drug checking to screen your sample for unexpected substances, binders or fillers.

Can drug checking test SARMs?

Sometimes.

SARMs come in various forms, and like with other PIEDs, they are hardest to test if they are diluted. We have some SARMs in our library, including ostarine, andarine, ligandrol and testolone - but we can't detect some of the newer or less common SARMs.

Extra tip: If your SARM comes as a pill or capsule, bring the whole thing in so that we can test a few parts of the sample. 

Can drug checking test SERMs, aromatase inhibitors or clenbuterol?  

Sometimes.

Many post-cycle medications, like SERMs and aromatase inhibitors, are in our library. This includes tamoxifen, clomiphene, anastrozole, exemestane, letrozole. Some of the more uncommon ones are not in our libraries.  

Again, whether we can detect them or not generally depends on how dilute the concentration is or how much binder or filler is in the mix.  

Clenbuterol is one of the most common adrenergic agonists that is used as a PIED. Clenbuterol is in our library, but is active in such low concentrations that our machines, and our further testing lab, often cannot detect it.  

What you need to know about drug checking for PIEDs 

Regardless of whether we are able to detect your substance or not, there are a few key things that are important to note, including:  

• We can’t provide info about the ‘strength’ of the PIED you have (how much your sample contains)
• We also can’t identify bacteria present in the sample or other contamination such as heavy metals
• Depending on the sample, we may not be able to reliably between different sub-types (i.e. different esters of testosterone)
• Not all samples can be sent for further testing by our laboratory. We have certain criteria samples have to meet to be sent, and some substances may not be suitable for lab analysis, as described above. 

If drug checking can’t detect my substance, what should I do?

There are still plenty of benefits to getting your substances checked, even if our current technology can’t detect the PIED you have.  

Drug checking is able to screen your sample against a library of over 20,000 drugs and substances. This still allows us to look for things that are unexpected or that definitely shouldn’t be in there!  

It's also a great chance to have a harm reduction conversation, ask our friendly team any questions you have, and share your favourite harm reduction tips with us that we can use to inform others. Plus, we always have lots of free resources onsite to help you stay safer.  

Will drug checking be able to test steroids, peptides and more in future?

We get that it's frustrating that we may not be able to fully test your substances at the moment. The use of PIEDs is rising, so this is something we're really aware of, and we’re working on ways to be able to test more PIEDs in the future. We’ll keep you updated when we find out more! 
 

How else can I be safer when using PIEDs? 

There are lots of other things you can do to be safer when using PIEDS, including: 

• If you are injecting your substance, use new, sterile equipment every time. You can get all your gear for free at any needle exchange provider
• Consider getting a blood test to monitor your health and identify any issues early  
• Don’t overdo it - people can sometimes think ‘the more the better’, but when it comes to PIEDs it is important to research your dose, take it easy, and take breaks as needed  
• Read more about how to be safer using anabolic steroids and other drugs on The Level