What Nova Scotia can learn from B.C.’s drug-checking services

published on November 2, 2023 by Gareth Hampshire in CBC News

Nova Scotia Health has taken some preliminary steps to explore technology that can detect what’s in street drugs people may be planning to consume.

Devices that can identify contaminants are already being used in some parts of the country.

There is no timeline yet, but early discussions on a drug-checking service are underway as part of a bigger harm-reduction strategy.

The discussions predate the drug alert Nova Scotia Health issued earlier last month, following a cluster of suspected opioid poisonings in Cole Harbour.

A teenager died and two other teens were taken to hospital. So far this year, 35 Nova Scotians have died from opioid overdoses, according to the province.

“Drug-checking is really important,” said Emily Percival-Paterson, a harm-reduction consultant with the public health division of Nova Scotia Health. “I think it needs to be one aspect of a spectrum of interventions and services that we offer in relation to this crisis.”…