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Kevin de Bruyne of Manchester City and Luka Modric of Real Madrid. Alamy Stock Photo

Manchester City face Real Madrid while Celtic take on Bayern Munich in Champions League

Knockout stages begin with some big ties.

LAST UPDATE | 13 hrs ago

MANCHESTER CITY will play Real Madrid, while Celtic face Bayern Munich in the Uefa Champions League round of 16 play-offs.  

Reigning champions Madrid will face 2023 winners Manchester City, following Friday’s draw.

It is the fourth year running in which the sides have been drawn against each other in a knockout tie, with Real emerging victorious in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals last season.

City, who scraped through after finishing 22nd in the league phase in this first season of the new format for Europe’s elite club competition, will be at home in the first leg before going to Spain for the return.

Celtic will face six-time European champions Bayern Munich.

The Scottish champions are into the knockout stage for the first time in 12 years and last faced Bayern in the group phase in 2017/18, losing home and away.

Paris Saint-Germain will play surprise package Brest in an all-French tie, while Juventus play PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord take on AC Milan in two ties between former winners of the competition.

Last season’s Europa League winners Atalanta, who finished one place outside the top eight which offered a direct path to the last 16, will face Club Brugge of Belgium.

Sporting of Portugal were drawn against last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, while Monaco will take on Benfica having lost at home to the Portuguese club in the league phase.

The play-off ties will take place next month, with the eight winners going through to the last 16 along with the eight highest-placed sides from the league phase.

Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa are the sides already through to the last 16.

 

The play-off draw:

Brest vs PSG

Clubs Brugge vs Atalanta

Man City vs Real Madrid

Juventus vs PSV

Monaco vs Benfica

Sporting vs Borussia Dortmund

Celtic vs Bayern Munich

Feyenoord vs AC Milan

 

– © AFP 2025

 

Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.

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    Mute Vinnie_the_yute
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 1:56 PM

    I can agree with the article but I don’t think having them sent to a lab for testing as per Wales, is going to make much difference. You go to your dealer on a Friday or Saturday, get the drugs, and consume them an hour or two later. That’s how it works for the vast majority of drug takers recreational or otherwise. Waiting to have then tested, while it may have some merit for the more cautious among us who may use such a service, will do nothing to counteract what happened in Cork. Drug taking tends to be quite spontaneous too.

    15 years ago the Green party in the UK were selling home XTC testing kits for £20. I bought one myself at that time as I was taking XTC every weekend. Also at that time it was widely reported that certain nightclubs in Holland were using UV lights in their clubs for XTC users to test the purity there and then before consuming. It looked something like an ATM machine and you’d walk up and put the drug under the light. That’s progressive in itself.

    When you have clowns like Micheal MArtin and Brian Cowen claiming they didn’t inhale you know where you stand on this issue. Inhaling or taking drugs is not illegal, having them in your possession is. The media seemed to have missed that bit at the time.

    Even Gay Byrne at this point has called for the legalisation of drugs. Ming, while well-meaning, became a little off-putting to the older generation on this topic in my opinion. A little too dictatorial and he turned quite a lot of people off. The wrong people. The people in their 50′s, 60′s and beyond. They are the people that need to be convinced through reasoned argument and gently too.

    121
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    Mute Richard Creedon
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 1:58 PM

    I think this might be more for dealers than users. To make sure their stuff is okay. No dealer regardless of what the media says would want someone dying because of using their drugs nor the police attention it draws

    53
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    Mute Alice Lee
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:06 PM

    You can still buy those test kits over the internet for about €30 euro and they can differentiate between most drugs! Not enough people know about them, and the hse issuing statements like “there is no way to know what is in your drugs” is just promoting unsafe use.

    47
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    Mute JimmyMc
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:19 PM

    Richard if the drugs passed through one set of hands you’d have a point, but by the time they get to the consumer they’ve had a number of people add to the weight. And most of those dealing in chemicals have no morals whatsoever

    29
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    Mute Richard Creedon
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:23 PM

    Powders maybe. But you can’t add to pills. EVEn so if a dealer has let’s say 20 plus pills I reckon the vast majority would still cover their back and get one tested. Doesn’t guarantee they are all safe. It is all about harm reduction not elimination (which is impossible while unregulated)

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    Mute JimmyMc
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:29 PM

    What exactly do you think pills are before they become pills?

    22
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    Mute Richard Creedon
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:37 PM

    Certain drugs are bought in pill form, others in powder. They are usually turned into pills by the manufacturers in Asia or wherever. It is not in their interest to contaminate the product or add adulterants. 10% extra weight to them means very little when their wholesale price is a tiny fraction of what it sells for here in the west. They want repeat business. It is when drugs come to the west that weight gets added my adding other substances. When the price is 10 times more here than what was paid for it, that is when it is extremely profitable to add the weight. Big time dealers would test for the purity to make sure they are getting good stuff and then cut it up. Doesn’t really happen at the lower level.

    8
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    Mute Oran Joyce
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:45 PM

    @Richard.
    If a bag of heroin results in an overdose then the dealer who supplied it is suddenly inundated with demand for that batch as users recognise t’s a strong dose.
    It’s not uncommon for dealers to put a lethal dose in the mix somewhere to boost sales.
    The decision as to who gets the lethal dose is left to the street dealers.

    5
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    Mute Foghorn Leghorn
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 1:47 PM

    Blanket prohibition with no chance of debate ain’t cutting it either. It’ll never be out of people’s reach if they want it

    84
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    Mute Johnneary
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 10:53 PM

    Just like the Cigarette campaign did.
    It’s time to get very graphic with the drugs kill campaign.
    However the Libtards would probably start covering the kid’s eyes.

    1
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    Mute Pt pat
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 1:51 PM

    Education and easily available drug testing kits is the only way. People are going to take drugs no matter what, they should at least know what they are getting into.

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    Mute Dave barrett
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:20 PM

    Those kits can’t detect all the ingredients so no good really.

    11
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    Mute Mark Cullen
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 5:46 PM

    I think some information is always better than no information, as long as the tester is aware of the limitations of a reagent test. For example, a lot of what is sold as MDMA contains no MDMA, and simple reagent tests can prove that. Having tests more prevalent and consumers more educated would make a big difference to what dealers can get away with selling.

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    Mute Mark Cullen
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 5:52 PM

    Readily available reagent tests to have at home and available in places where people are likely to take drugs. This in conjunction with walk in centres that perform more rigorous testing during office hours and publish the results online would be a great step forward.

    Of course, all of this is just to avoid doing the obvious, which would be regulating the production and supply of drugs, the same as we do with every other industry producing things that people put in their bodies.

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    Mute Denis Kaye
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 1:49 PM

    Tragic??? Give the hysterical nonsense a rest already!

    42
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    Mute Richard Creedon
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 1:51 PM

    Bring this issue up when politicians are knocking on doors so they know that it is important

    37
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    Mute Rumpelstiltskin
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:11 PM

    All our politicians should be encouraged to try a dose of LSD in a controlled environment.

    35
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    Mute Joe Bloggs
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 4:15 PM

    Judging by the bull s hite they come out with I reckon most of them are trippin’ already. I remember a few years ago there was a lot of talk about a “rainbow” government… Far out maaan.

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    Mute JimmyMc
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 5:21 PM

    How about tied to a chair and fed a truth serum instead, prior to a live pre- election debate

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    Mute GerMcKenna
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:19 PM

    Stuff like this won’t happen if it was legal and regulated.

    All that 25i nBome stuff are just horrible research chemicals that you can easily buy off online vendors

    Once the Govt makes them illegal all they have to do is change one or two molecules and boom it’s legal again, and the humans who consume them are essentially the guinea pigs.

    Same with that poor girl taking PMA instead of MDMA at the Twisted Pepper awhile ago.

    This is just going to keep on happening again and again until the people in power use some common sense and legalise them, while also providing education on how to take them responsibly.

    Humans should be allowed to explore their consciousness, just like our ancestors before us did.

    35
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    Mute Eric Foley
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:19 PM

    The problem with 25-i-nbome is it’s very active at 100 micrograms, much like LSD. The difference is 200 micrograms of LSD might frighten you, but 200 micrograms of 25-i-nbome could land you in deep doody. It could even conceivably happen that some clown orders the stuff online in bulk, which would only be a gram. Some people dont know or understand this and the concept of dosage curve. People re-dose repeatedly with the common street drugs, and there’s usually not a problem. Some of the more obscure substances have a dangerously steep dose curve, unlike street drugs. These substances are dangerous in the hands of those who dont, or wont research them properly. At the same time, handled properly, & there’s likely not to be a problem. This is the case most of the time thankfully.

    It’s worth noting that id certain well known substances were not outlawed, but regulated, these obscure chems would be very very rare.

    12
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    Mute Rehabmeerkat
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 4:43 PM

    If I was to offer advice on it … I’d tell people not to use synthetic versions of drugs. At least you know the risk associated with traditional drugs. Synthetics are the new heroin…. they will cause massive social damage in the next 10 years. Maybe Philip K Dick’s vision of the future isn’t far off the mark.. a society hooked on VR & synthetic drugs. We lose our perception of reality.

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    Mute GerMcKenna
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 5:17 PM

    Well don’t be knockin VR, it’s pretty darn cool.

    People taking research chems and eating eachother is another matter entirely

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    Mute Jason Riordan
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 8:18 PM

    Dumbest statement I have ever heard.

    Drugs have been around as long as we have. People do stupid shit regardless.

    Do you really think virtual reality technology would be less of a danger to humans than a
    psychotropic drug..?

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    Mute Dave barrett
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 1:55 PM

    mandatory 20 years for dealing.

    34
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    Mute Foghorn Leghorn
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:01 PM

    Still drugs coming into places like Indonesia where the death penalty applies.
    Draconian laws are only taking more steps backwards, and so long as we’re saying weed is more harmful than alcohol we have a moral duty to oppose the status quo

    58
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    Mute JayK
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:09 PM

    Two death penalties then.

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    Mute Rasputin
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:42 PM

    The more severe the penalties for drug smuggling the greater the rewards if your successful and for drug mules who are normally doing it because they’re desperate for cash the greater the draw. Thailand has some of the harshest laws on the planet is awash with drugs. Magic mushrooms and weed are common pizza toppings for crying out loud and yabba can be bought on most street corners for pennies.China white is pretty much everywhere and regularly sold to idiot tourists as cocaine leading to Pulp Fiction scenarios.Then you have the likes of Saudi Arabia who make a big hoohaa about executing smugglers but where only recently one of it’s princes was caught with two tonnes of speed.. Enough to get every man, woman and child in the Middle East of their faces for the next 30 years. The myth that harsher penalties for smuggling or possession discourage drug use is hogwash.

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    Mute Eric Foley
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:08 PM

    oh dear. here comes the authoritarian clowns.

    9
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    Mute Ciarán FitzGerald
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:33 PM

    A “say no to drugs” message hasn’t worked but surely the USI were irresponsible by not asking young people to avoid this stuff. The HSE came out and said it. This needs to be tackled from a health perspective NOT a legal criminal one. People take the stuff regardless of legality and regulation. We need to have a similar campaign like the tobacco one – disincentivise the stuff and highlight all the dangers that are there.
    People are playing Russian roulette with substances they at least should be aware of the bullets in the gun.

    16
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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:32 PM

    They really aren’t playing Russian roulette because if they were the deaths and incidents would be much higher. There are risks but exaggerated them undermines anything else said.
    Time for an open grown up discussion.
    Never forget the first substance most people abuse is alcohol.

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    Mute Ronan Schneider
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 4:10 PM

    If they think their lives are so miserable and worthless that they feel the need to take drugs and get high, let them, who cares!! They are probably at it every weekend! Any drug user or junkie knows the consequences of taking drugs and a possibility of an overdose. They are clearly okay with it, leave them to it if they want to kill themselves. The problem is that they are so out of it that they can hurt or kill/attack other people. Why even publish this crap about these junkies?!

    12
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    Mute Rehabmeerkat
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 4:49 PM

    NEWSFLASH RONAN: In Ireland, just over 27% reported using any illegal drugs in their lifetime. Cannabis was the most commonly used illegal drug with 25% of the adult population having ever used the drug. After cannabis, lifetime use was highest for ecstasy, cocaine and magic mushrooms (each 7%) – This story impacts more than a few people…. try 1 million

    14
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    Mute Amy M
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    Jan 23rd 2016, 5:39 PM

    Your definitive statements remind me of primary school lessons when our teacher explained that words like ‘any’ or ‘none’ are inapplicable to society at large. Did you skip primary school Ronan? Any drug user, they are clearly okay, they are so out of it….you are generalizing and it shows your ignorance.

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    Mute Ronan Schneider
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 4:12 PM

    If they think their lives are so miserable and worthless that they feel the need to take drugs and get high, let them, who cares!! They are probably at it every weekend! Any drug user or junkie knows the consequences of taking drugs and a possibility of an overdose. They are clearly okay with it, leave them to it if they want to kill themselves. The problem is that they are so out of it that they can hurt or kill/attack other people. Why even publish this crap about drug users, is it news?!

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    Mute Joe Bloggs
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 4:02 PM

    A house party on Monday night? Respect!!! In my day the trippin’ was kept for the weekend… “Avoid the brown acid maaaan”…

    8
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    Mute Bleedin Rapid
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 6:01 PM

    The government has hiked up the price of smoking so it’s not an option, the price of alcohol is ridiculous and leo has proposed another hike with min price on wine to €9 and all others €1 a unit. Weed now legal in some states in US, will never be legal here so what’s a student to do? It’s foolish to think people won’t want to to have a social life and enjoy themselves and with the current gov I can understand why this is what they turn to. The gov has so much blood on their hands now, between this, the unsafe hospitals, and the increase in suicide to to financial sanctions imposed.

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    Mute John Reese
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 4:15 PM

    Is a criminal case opened in relation to this….it should be. Kids putting this stuff in their mouth’s…dancing in the nude covered in blood, chewing the edge of a pavement, in a different world…mad stuff.

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    Mute Aimee Setter
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 2:37 PM

    How about the hse take into account that normal drug test dont test for these designer drugs. So addicts keep on using away and getting away with violence and drug driving and doin untold damage to others. Ignoring the problem doesn’t help the victims of these drugs.

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    Mute Eric Foley
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:29 PM

    People who take trips, Es and party pill type stuff aren’t addicts or violent.

    That’s a whole different thing.

    Alcohol & prescription meds cause way more violence and crime than party drugs. Massively.

    41
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    Mute Eric Foley
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:42 PM

    love the thumbs down for what is clearly for someone, an uncomfortable truth.

    People like to get high, and most never have a problem. Thats never gonna change, and there’ll never be an honest debate until certain people accept it.. Put that in your puritan pipe and smoke it!

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    Mute grace
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    Jan 23rd 2016, 1:05 AM

    If u are stupid enough to do drugs this day in age then shame on u we all know the repocussions

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    Mute Liam McDonald
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    Jan 22nd 2016, 3:00 PM
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    Mute Martin Burns Jr.
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    Jan 25th 2016, 1:36 PM

    While we’re waiting forever for the government to grow the balls to do something, if you’re a person who uses recreational drugs you can seriously diminish your chances of something going wrong by buying these testing kits online:

    https://dancesafe.org/product/complete-set-of-all-7-testing-kits/

    Costs about €90, which I know is steep but they last about a year. Think about the price you’d pay if something goes wrong, and make the smart choice. The full kit can test for pretty much every drug available. Worth noting though that although the test will tell ya what the ‘majority’ substance is in your drug, it won’t tell ya if it’s purely that substance alone. In other words, you’ll pretty much eliminate your chances of dying from a dodgy batch, but that shouldn’t be taken as an excuse to overindulge, cos there could be traces of god knows what in there.

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