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. 2018 May 25;13(1):20.
doi: 10.1186/s13011-018-0156-3.

Drug checking: a potential solution to the opioid overdose epidemic?

Geoff Bardwell  1   2 , Thomas Kerr  3   4
Affiliations

Drug checking: a potential solution to the opioid overdose epidemic?

Geoff Bardwell et al. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. .

Abstract

Background: North America is experiencing an overdose epidemic driven in part by the proliferation of illicitly-manufactured fentanyl and related analogues. In response, communities are scaling up novel overdose prevention interventions. Included are drug checking technologies.

Main body: Drug checking technologies aim to identify the contents of illicit drugs. These technologies vary considerably in terms of cost, accuracy, and usability, and while efforts are now underway to implement drug checking programs for people who inject drugs, there remains a lack of rigorous evaluation of their impacts.

Conclusion: Given the ongoing overdose crisis and the urgent need for effective responses, research on drug checking should be prioritized. However, while such research should be supported, it should be completed before these technologies are widely implemented.

Keywords: Drug checking technologies; Drug use; Opioid epidemic; Overdose prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

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Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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References

    1. Hedegaard H, Warner M, Minino AM. Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 1999-2016. NCHS data brief. 2017(294):1–8. - PubMed
    1. British Columbia Coroners Service. Illicit drug overdose deaths in BC, January 1, 2007 - December 31, 2017. British Columbia: Government of British Columbia; 2018.
    1. Government of British Columbia Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions: Province expands fentanyl testing and launches drug-checking pilot in Vancouver. British Columbia: Government of British Columbia; 2017.
    1. Health Canada . New federal initiatives to address the opioid crisis. Ottawa: Government of Canada; 2017.
    1. Kerr T, Tupper K. Drug checking as a harm reduction intervention: evidence review report. Vancouver, BC: British Columbia Centre on Substance Use; 2017.

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