After a failed War on Drugs, Échele Cabeza is working to protect drug consumers rather than penalize them. Drug checking is a way to protect consumers by testing the makeup of drugs and providing recommendations that help them to make safer choices. But in Colombia, a country at the epicenter of the war on drugs, drug checking has transformed drug users and those most affected by prohibitionist policies into activists, championing harm-reduction strategies and drug legalization. In 2010, Quintero launched Échele Cabeza, a nonprofit that strives to make drug use safer instead of trying to eliminate it outright. Drug Checking Goes MainstreamAt the drug-checking site, youth carrying drugs stored in plastic bags file into the lab, where drug checking costs 20,000 pesos, or about $5 per substance.