Fentanyl test strip program yields positive results

A research study conducted in B.C. that distributed fentanyl test strips for take-home use has proved effective in checking the drug supply.

The project was launched in partnership with Interior Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, First Nations Health Authority, B.C. Centre on Substance Use, and B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

The study, which took place between April and July of 2019, found that 1,768 opioid drug samples were tested through the use of take-home fentanyl test strips, and that 90 per cent of the tests had positive results. That figure is similar to the 89.1 per cent positivity rate seen through testing by trained staff at harm reduction sites.

The study was conducted at ten sites that serve large geographical areas of the province, including the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood in Vancouver, as well as several smaller urban and rural communities.

“For the past three years, more than 80 per cent of overdose deaths in B.C. occurred where people live,” said the study’s principal investigator and deputy chief medical health officer at VCH, Dr. Mark Lysyshyn.

“Take-home drug checking provides people with information they can use to reduce their risk of illicit drug poisoning in the very location where the risk is highest. We hope the findings from this study will help expand access to fentanyl test strips for take-home use as part of a broader drug checking strategy,” said Lysyshyn.

The findings also note that 95 per cent of participants stated that they would use the take-home test strips again, and nearly one in three reported that they had safer substance-use behaviour as a consequence of a fentanyl positive test result.

“The opportunity for people to have these strips accessible at home is so important, especially for those living in rural and remote communities,” said Jessica Bridgeman, IH’s manager of sexual health and harm reduction.

“Interior Health is happy to support this program and provides take home drug checking strips from more than 60 locations across the region.”

The results also provided more information on the poisoned drug supply within B.C.

“The rapidly changing and unpredictable illicit drug supply continues to drive both fatal and non-fatal overdoses,” said Dr. Sukhpreet Klaire, lead author and associate director with the BCCSU Clinical Addiction Medicine Fellowship program.

“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. Take-home fentanyl strips can provide potentially life-saving information and should be made widely accessible.”

Drug checking, including through the use of testing strips, is part of a broader harm reduction strategy used by B.C. health authorities.

The Take-Home Drug Checking as A Novel Harm Reduction Strategy in British Columbia, Canada report was published in the International Journal of Drug Policy in June.