Fentanyl-testing kits widely available

Take-home kits that let drug users check their supplies for fentanyl are available at 60 locations within Interior Health.

The testing strips are said to be just as effective at detecting the presence of fentanyl as tests done by trained health care workers at overdose prevention clinics.

“The rapidly changing and unpredictable illicit drug supply continues to drive both fatal and non-fatal overdoses,” Dr. Sukhpreet Klaire, who was involved in a study on the effectiveness of the take-home testing strips, said in a Wednesday release.

“These findings demonstrate that in the absence of a regulated drug supply, strategies that provide people with information about the substances they’re consuming are paramount to keeping them safe,” Klaire said.

Just under 1,800 opioid drug samples were tested with both the take-home kits and by staff at harm reduction sites. Detection rates for fentanyl were nearly identical, at 90% and 89.1%, respectively.

The study was conducted in 2019, but its results were published this month in the International Journal of Drug Policy in an article titled Take-Home Drug Checking as a Novel Harm Reduction Strategy in British Columbia, Canada.

More than 95% of the study’s participants said they would use the take-home testing strips again.

Commenting on the study, Jessica Bridgeman, Interior Health’s manage of sexual health and harm reduction, said: “The opportunity for people to have these strips accessible at home is so important, especially for those living in rural and remote communities. Interior Health is happy to support this program and provides take-home drug checking strips from more than 60 locations in the region.”