The Loop, the UK’s first and only dedicated drug checking service, has launched a £25,000 fundraising campaign to support its pioneering harm reduction work across the UK.
The award-winning national charity aims to use the ‘Test & Know’ campaign funds to expand its testing capacity and life-saving harm reduction work across the UK through 2025 and beyond.
The funds will support both the expansion of The Loop’s city centre drug checking services and its event-based ‘back of house’ drug testing model.
Each drug test costs approximately £12 due to expensive equipment and consumables, with supporters encouraged to donate this amount to help safeguard others and support emergency services. Supporters are encouraged to donate the cost of one test to ‘pay it forward’ – potentially saving another’s life.
The Loop’s work has proved vital in identifying dangerous substances. At Parklife in June 2025, the charity’s onsite testing identified high and variable strength MDMA pills containing up to three times a common adult dose, enabling rapid public alerts about overdose risks.
Established in 2012, the charity introduced the UK’s first ‘back of house’ harm reduction drug testing in nightclubs in 2013 and in festivals in 2014. The Loop became the first organisation to receive a Home Office licence for onsite drug testing in the UK in 2024. The charity provides not only evidence-based harm reduction services but also contributes to a national understanding of drug markets, issuing alerts about high-risk substances, and communicates information about emerging drug trends through its multi-agency partnerships with police, public health, drug treatment services and event organisers.
“We want to be able to do more and reach more people to reduce drug-related harm. As a charity the funding and resources available to us can restrict this,” said Katy Porter, CEO of The Loop. “We know there is significant support from many people for the work we do, and we are asking you to donate as much or as little as you can to enable us to deliver more drug checking and testing in the UK.”
With drug-related deaths in the UK at record highs and concerns about synthetic substances including nitazenes escalating, the need for rapid, real-time onsite testing and distribution of accurate drugs information is more urgent than ever.
“The Loop is a small charity with a big heart, staffed by hundreds of qualified and committed volunteers who donate their time and expertise to deliver the service to help keep people safe,” added Professor Fiona Measham, Chair in Criminology at the University of Liverpool and Founder and Chair of The Loop. “Your donation will support our chemists to identify substances of concern drawing on the latest technological advances and health professionals to communicate test results and relative risk, rapidly and without judgement, to the public and partner organisations.”
The campaign aims to secure The Loop’s long-term sustainability and expand its reach, ensuring more people can access the information and support they need to avoid harm.
To donate £12 or more, visit wearetheloop.org/test-and-know
