Only a test

Fentanyl test strips can save lives

Let’s review a few facts about fentanyl, with credit to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that, when prescribed by a physician, can be useful in severe pain management. It’s often used during treatments for cancer.

Opioids can be derived naturally from the opium poppy plant, but fentanyl is concocted in labs, through chemistry.

Illicit fentanyl is a scourge on the world, because it’s 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. That strength makes it a popular and cheap choice for lacing other drugs, increasing their capacity to produce more powerful highs. That also makes them more addictive, a factor that drives people back again, and again, and again to those selling drugs.

It will come as no surprise, though, that the illicit drug “industry” doesn’t concern itself much with precision. Increased profitability, yes, but not precision. It takes a ridiculously small amount of fentanyl to be deadly. And any pill or drug sold by drug dealers can contain dangerous amounts.

A drug that contains a deadly dose of fentanyl looks no different than one that doesn’t.

Last Sunday, this newspaper described the work of Brittany Kelly, whose brother Matt Adams accidentally overdosed in 2017 after several years of sobriety. Kelly was shown distributing naloxone kits at Fayetteville’s Wilson Park. The kits, when administered soon enough, can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and provide time to get vital medical care. Kelly, through the Matt Adams Foundation for Opioid Recovery, works to help others avoid a tragedy such as the one her family went through.

What caught our attention was her distribution, too, of inexpensive fentanyl test strips that can detect the presence of fentanyl in other drugs. The surprising thing is, those test strips are illegal to possess in Arkansas.

Washington County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Durrett confirmed the test strips are, under Arkansas law, considered drug paraphernalia and possession is considered a felony.

Does that make sense? Does it seem reasonable when the nation has in recent years hit, and then surpassed, new records in terms of the number of deaths from drug overdoses? Medical and law enforcement authorities blame much of the increase on fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Emergency services officials in Benton and Washington counties say they’ve taken more and more overdose calls.

It’s not that banning possession of test strips makes no sense at all. Many believe the strips facilitate the use of illicit drugs. Lawmakers undoubtedly became convinced that if you’re walking around with fentanyl test strips, you must be part of the illicit drug industry. Maybe, the lawmakers thought the looming threat of fentanyl’s presence could in and of itself be a deterrent to trying any illegal drug.

That thinking, though, assumes people are reasonably evaluating the risks of using illegal drugs. It’s clear they don’t just by the fact they’re willing to ingest them. Would they consider those risks enough to use a test strip and ensure they don’t take fentanyl accidentally? Undoubtedly, some will. Saving some lives counts for something.

Most people reading this are likely opposed to the abuse of drugs, particularly “feel good” drugs made and sold illicitly by people and organizations who have no interest beyond enriching themselves.

We’ll borrow a visual from “The

Matrix”: Let’s suppose you’re offered a red pill and a blue pill. You’re promised that taking the correct pill will produce a desired, euphoric effect. The incorrect choice will, in all likelihood, kill you. The problem is, the person offering the pills won’t or can’t tell you which is which.

On what basis would you make your selection?

Oh, wait. Let’s consider a more likely scenario. Let’s say the choice is exactly the same, but it’s your teenager who faces it. Undoubtedly, mom and dad’s one-time admonition when the kid was in sixth grade to never take illicit drugs will play somewhere in his mind. And, naturally, teenagers never, ever do anything their parents have warned them to avoid for their safety, right? Not when they’re in a room of their peers intent on a good time with boundaries far more permissive than any of their parents would wish. Not when a “friend” offers assurances that he or she has played the game before and everything turned out OK.

We’re not saying public health departments or law enforcement agencies should be passing out fentanyl test strips willy-nilly. It is impractical to deliver a message of “Just say no” while directly taking actions that facilitate the activity to which “no” is meant to be applied.

But we suggest it should not be illegal for there to exist a supply of devices that could test a drug for the presence of the unwanted ingredient that very likely could produce a fatality rather than just a high. People should not face prosecution for possessing such simple test strips.

OK, let’s use a different example that might resonate with — or at least touch on the experiences of — a broader audience: Just say no to premarital sex, including sexual activity at 16, or 14, or 13, right? We understand those encouraging abstinence might consider it a mixed message if they hand out condoms at the same time. But is possession of a condom illegal? Do we make it illegal for a 14-year-old to walk into a pharmacy and buy a condom? No, there are no age limits for such a purchase. And certainly no potential jail time for possession. While we agree and support the parental message that sexual activity should wait, it seems rather practical that if the teenager decides to act against the parents’ advice, the parent might prefer the availability of a condom to the arrival of an unplanned pregnancy.

Where this analogy fails is that pregnancy, even an unexpected one, leads to life. Failure to test a drug with a fentanyl strip can lead to death, and in many cases has. In both cases, life seems a preferable outcome.

In last Sunday’s story, prosecutors in Benton and Washington counties acknowledged possession of a fentanyl test strip alone would be unlikely to result in a prosecution, regardless of what the law says.

We’re glad to hear that, but doesn’t it suggest the activity banned by Arkansas law ought not be a chargeable felony to begin with? It’s undoubtedly used to pile on charges when someone is arrested on other charges. We’re not saying law enforcement or lawmakers should ease up on enforcement against illicit drugs, but test strips are about saving lives.

Isn’t that everyone’s goal? Refusing to take a step that can save lives of people using or addicted to drugs isn’t taking a hard line against illicit drugs; it’s taking a hard line against rescuing those who give in to the lure of the illegal drug trade.

Arkansas should stand firm against the illegal drug industry but stand up for saving lives. There’s no need to sacrifice the lives of any Arkansans to obstinance on the question of fentanyl test strips.