Is there fentanyl in my drugs? How ‘take-home’ testing could be a game changer

published on June 8, 2022 by Elana Shepert in Vancouver Is Awesome

People who use drugs in Vancouver can use take-home strips to detect fentanyl in their supply.

But how accurate are the results from self-administered tests? And, perhaps more importantly, what is the likelihood that someone who uses drugs will use them?

A B.C. study finds that people who use drugs can detect fentanyl in their supply using take-home strips at positivity rates similar to those obtained by trained staff at harm reduction sites.

Among 1,768 opioid drug samples tested between April to July 2019, positivity rates for the take-home tests were around 90 per cent while those obtained by trained staff were 89.1 per cent…