Drug checks at Vancouver supervised injection site found 80% contained fentanyl--not just in heroin, but meth,too--40% of cocaine also tested positive for fentanyl

Almost 80 per cent of street drugs tested for fentanyl at a Vancouver safe injection site were laced with the potentially deadly opioid, a nine-month pilot study has found. The study, presented Monday at the 25th Harm Reduction International conference in Montreal, found more than 80 per cent of the heroin and crystal meth and about 40 per cent of the cocaine brought into Insite by clients contained illicit fentanyl.

In all, more than 1,000 drug samples -- the vast majority of them heroin -- were tested between July 2016 and March 2017 at the Downtown Eastside supervised injection centre using specialized strips that detect the presence of fentanyl.

"Clients at Insite were able to use the results from the drug-checking service to reduce their dose and decrease their risk of overdose," said lead researcher Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health.

"If drug checking can help clients at a supervised injection site like Insite where nobody has ever died from an overdose, imagine how much it could help people in places without these life-saving programs."

In British Columbia alone, more than 900 people died of apparent illicit drug overdoses in 2016, with about 60 per cent of the deaths linked to illicitly manufactured fentanyl. The synthetic opioid is 100 times more toxic than morphine and a dose the size of a grain or two of sand can result in a fatal overdose.

Over the study period, Insite clients were asked if they wanted their drugs tested for fentanyl, said Lysyshyn, who estimated that about five of the roughly 600 daily visitors accepted the researchers' offer.

Of all the drugs checked, almost 80 per cent were heroin, while crystal meth represented 7.2 per cent of the drugs and cocaine made up 5.3 per cent. About 38 per cent of testing was performed pre-consumption and the remainder post-consumption by analyzing traces of the drugs left in "cookers" used by clients to prepare their injections.

Testing is done with strips designed to detect fentanyl in urine. But the B.C. researchers used the highly sensitive strips to test for the potent opioid by mixing a drug sample with water. If the strip reacts by showing a single pink line, the test is positive; two lines means no fentanyl is present.

"It was the community that asked for this. Drug users said we want to know what's in our drugs, so we offered it to them and they're doing the test and we let them deal with the information," Lysyshyn said.

"People are much more likely to check a drug that they have previously overdosed on, or that they felt weird when they were taking it, or it looks different than their normal drugs." However, the results of the study need to be interpreted with caution, he added.

"It's not saying 80 per cent of the heroin on the streets of Vancouver is contaminated. It may be, but this could be an overestimation of that based on the fact that people are more likely to check what they think are contaminated drugs."

Rick Lines, executive director of Harm Reduction International, said the study "proves that the alarm bells that have been sounding over this public health emergency are fully warranted."

"Street drugs are costing lives and this research confirms what we've long known -- that supervised injection sites and drug checking can prevent unnecessary deaths."

There are four centres in Vancouver where users can inject their drugs under the watchful eyes of staff, who are trained to give shots of the rescue medication naloxone in the event of an overdose. The centres also provide sterile equipment, information about drugs, basic health care and addiction treatment referrals.

Lysyshyn said the researchers want to find other settings where fentanyl testing could be offered in a bid to reduce fatal overdoses.

Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/local-news/drug-checks-at-vancouver-supervised-injection-site-found-80-contained-fentanyl


Comments


[50 Points] JelloCreationist:

"Your work killing fiends Cause you cut it with Fentanyl"


[40 Points] METH_IS_LIFE:

Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but... 80% of the tested crystal meth had fent traces? What's the point? If I'm trying to get turnt on fucking crystal meth, I'd be furious if I started nodding/fell asleep.

That's lame, yo. Obviously I think every drug user should be allowed to get high how they want (including deliberate fent users), but I dunno man.. Fentanyl is becoming more and more of a nuisance.


[18 Points] None:

[deleted]


[15 Points] whoiiinvitedthisguy:

Those people are probably just poor addicts getting it from like really shitty drug dealers tho. I'm not familiar with the meth or heroin scene but damn the very few times I got street cocaine it had to be like 30-50% pure, I don't think my shit had fentanyl in it but in big cities that could be different and just goes to show. I know you didn't say it did, but I don't think those numbers really mean much for DNM users. This is a good post tho


[10 Points] BusinessOrPersonal:

I think injection centers are an excellent harm reduction technique, but this kind of risk-inflating fear mongering is not helpful. If people are being given extremely high rates of false-positives, the information loses its utility. What addict is going to throw out 80% of her drugs, knowing that the vast majority of it was probably fine? There are just so, so many methodological problems with this that the claims made are essentially baseless. They are using a binary test that measures "presence" of fentanyl in the same way that, tested to a low enough criterion, arsenic is "present" in all drinking water. That's not informative for estimating risk. They are at least aware that the sample is likely biased towards suspect or sketchy drugs, but then disregard the contamination problem with "cookers". I imagine that they are not scrupulously cleaned between doses, so this test basically shows that at some point, some drugs in that cooker contained fentanyl. This, again, is largely useless for determining risk levels in any way useful for the user's decision-making. Drug users going to injection sites are aware that black-market street drugs are inherently dangerous because of the lack of information and accountability inherent to the market structure. Trying to drum up a public drug panic is not helpful to users, and the risk-obfuscating disinformation muddies the value of sound medical advice the injection centers and related public services could be providing.


[6 Points] gracefulwing:

Thanks for sharing.

How on Earth do you pronounce Dr. Lyshysyn's name though?? Someone help me, that short circuited my brain a little here.


[3 Points] jimgear:

Why would fent be in coke and meth? Is this simply trace cross contamination by the dealer?


[2 Points] croooook:

smh...


[2 Points] qspawn73:

So they're just trying to mirder people then...


[2 Points] karachay:

Honestly who the fuck puts fent in coke? It's like trying to pass xanax off as meth. How it's this profitable for the dealer? I can't imagine people coming back if they don't OD, it makes zero sense unless the dealer wants to kill people.


[1 Points] THE_DEEP_MOB_CONNECT:

BULLSHIT


[1 Points] enginears:

Man.. I want 2008 back..


[1 Points] cth_123:

Entangle is really becoming a problem especially with street drugs. We need a safe way to get our drugs legalize it already.