Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Feb 8;15(1):7.
doi: 10.1186/s12954-018-0213-2.

High willingness to use rapid fentanyl test strips among young adults who use drugs

Maxwell S Krieger  1 , Jesse L Yedinak  1 , Jane A Buxton  2   3 , Mark Lysyshyn  2   4 , Edward Bernstein  5   6 , Josiah D Rich  1   7 , Traci C Green  1   5   6   7 , Scott E Hadland  5   6 , Brandon D L Marshall  8
Affiliations

High willingness to use rapid fentanyl test strips among young adults who use drugs

Maxwell S Krieger et al. Harm Reduct J. .

Abstract

Background: Synthetic opioid overdose mortality among young adults has risen more than 300% in the USA since 2013, primarily due to the contamination of heroin and other drugs with illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Rapid test strips, which can be used to detect the presence of fentanyl in drug samples (before use) or urine (after use), may help inform people about their exposure risk. The purpose of this study was to determine whether young adults who use drugs were willing to use rapid test strips as a harm reduction intervention to prevent overdose. We hypothesized that those who had ever overdosed would be more willing to use the test strips.

Methods: We recruited a convenience sample of young adults who use drugs in Rhode Island from May to September 2017. Eligible participants (aged 18 to 35 with past 30-day drug use) completed an interviewer-administered survey. The survey assessed participant's socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics, overdose risk, as well as suspected fentanyl exposure, and willingness to use take-home rapid test strips to detect fentanyl contamination in drugs or urine. Participants were then trained to use the test strips and were given ten to take home.

Results: Among 93 eligible participants, the mean age was 27 years (SD = 4.8), 56% (n = 52) of participants were male, and 56% (n = 52) were white. Over one third (n = 34, 37%) had a prior overdose. The vast majority (n = 86, 92%) of participants wanted to know if there was fentanyl in their drug supply prior to their use. Sixty-five (70%) participants reported concern that their drugs were contaminated with fentanyl. After the brief training, nearly all participants (n = 88, 95%) reported that they planned to use the test strips.

Conclusions: More than 90% of participants reported willingness to use rapid test strips regardless of having ever overdosed, suggesting that rapid fentanyl testing is an acceptable harm reduction intervention among young people who use drugs in Rhode Island. Study follow-up is ongoing to determine whether, how, and under what circumstances participants used the rapid test strips and if a positive result contributed to changes in overdose risk behavior.

Keywords: Fentanyl; Harm reduction; Opioids; Overdose; Willingness.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Our research was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and received approval from the Brown University Office of Research Protections IRB, #1612001662. All participants provided written consent at the time of the survey.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selected information, behavior skills, and motivation questions with behavioral change outcomes
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Rudd RA, Seth P, David F, Scholl L. Increases in drug and opioid-involved overdose deaths—United States, 2010–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;65:1445–1452. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm655051e1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System. Provisional counts of drug overdose deaths, as of 8/6/2017 [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/health_policy/monthly-drug-overdose-death-.... Accessed 6 Feb 2018.
    1. Carlson RG, Nahhas RW, Martins SS, Daniulaityte R. Predictors of transition to heroin use among initially non-opioid dependent illicit pharmaceutical opioid users: a natural history study. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016;160:127–134. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.12.026. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Martins SS, Sarvet A, Santaella-Tenorio J, Saha T, Grant BF, Hasin DS. Changes in US lifetime heroin use and heroin use disorder: prevalence from the 2001–2002 to 2012–2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on alcohol and related conditions. JAMA Psychiatry. 2017;74:445–455. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2017.0113. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Compton WM, Jones CM, Baldwin GT. Relationship between nonmedical prescription-opioid use and heroin use. N Engl J Med. 2016;374:154–163. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1508490. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources