NWT launches fentanyl test strips in response to drug poisonings

published on April 12, 2024 by Emily Blake in Cabin Radio

A pilot drug-checking program is under way to help increase awareness of drug contamination in the Northwest Territories.

The Department of Health and Social Services said a fentanyl test strip project began in December in response to several opioid-related deaths in the territory. The department said the aim is to “increase safety and reduce the harm to those who use drugs by giving them another tool to test their drugs for fentanyl.”

Fentanyl is extremely toxic and can be lethal. Dealers sometimes add it to other drugs to increase the package’s overall potency, but buyers often don’t know that has happened.

Where the tests have been distributed remains unclear. The department said they had been targeted toward “areas of highest reported need.”

Test strips have been made available at health centres in multiple communities, a nurses’ expo in Yellowknife, the NWT Association of Communities annual general meeting in Hay River, and using “direct contact in areas with concern.”…