Drug users to be offered free take-home test kits to help them avoid fentanyl

Drug users are being offered free take-home test strips so they can check their substances for fentanyl.

Interior Health, the BC Centre for Disease Control and Vancouver Coastal Health are working together on a research project involving the strips in an attempt to boost safety.

“We know using drugs alone presents a significant risk amidst a toxic, unpredictable and illegal drug supply that is taking three to four lives every single day,” said Judy Darcy, minister of mental health and addictions.

“Drug checking is an important tool in our toolbox and through this research project we can learn more about how to keep people safer and help them find a pathway to hope.”

Drug users will be given five free trips along with instructions on how to use them so they can check for fentanyl, which was associated with about 87% of all B.C. overdose deaths in 2018.

Take-home drug checking kits are now available through some of our community partners as part of a new research project https://t.co/vHWqONqJ1e #StopOverdose pic.twitter.com/G2tfJQU8FD

— Interior Health (@Interior_Health) May 15, 2019

The test kits are available at overdose prevention sites supervised consumption sites.

The aim of the study is to determine whether the kits can be used effectively outside of a health facility and without staff to supervise.

“Using the test strips will allow people to identify if there is fentanyl in their drugs so they can make informed decisions about how to reduce their risk of overdose,” said Dr. Jane Buxton, medical lead for harm reduction at BCCDC.

“Although the test strips do not detect all fentanyl analogues, they are another tool that we can use to engage with people who use substances and discuss with them how they can reduce harms.

“After testing their drugs, people may choose to use less, to use with a friend, or not use the drug at all. And, of course, key to staying safe even with access to test strips is to be trained to respond to an overdose and have a naloxone kit with you at all times.”

The kits are available at sites in Kamloops, Cranbrook, Merritt, Nelson, Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon as well as in Metro Vancouver.