The AU harm reduction workers state they think it is a deliberate method to fool reagent based testing by putting in “just enough” MDMA to make the mixture show up as potentially unadulterated. This does appear to be confined to a particular part of Australia although it could happen anywhere in the world. All it would take is one sociopathic profit seeking dealer with a “little knowledge” of chemistry/pharmacology, which can of course be dangerous.
One thing I’ve noticed in recent years (no doubt as part of the darknets) is a change in the middle level dealing networks – “old skool” middle level dealers were sometimes sketchy and what went on around them a bit scary; but they at least tended to socialise in the same wider circles you did and took the stuff themselves (at least with party drugs). Therefore a lot of harm reduction info was also passed around as well as drugs (especially when the dealers were 10-15 years senior to the user groups – many had kids near to age of their clients and folk do still have a conscience).
Nowadays there are young lads who buy a load of stuff from the darknet often to re-sell and fund their college fees or other business ventures, but don’t always consume all the drugs themselves (for instance a lad studying engineering who wants modafinil or similar to help him pass his exams, but realises he can make money by selling party drugs like MDMA to liberal arts students).
At this point and especially if setbacks occur (such as a bulk purchase being seized) its easy to work out how it might result in these rough mixtures being put together, perhaps out of lack of knowledge as much as malice.
