Fentanyl test strips may produce false-negative results: Health Canada study
Dec 14, 2017 | 9:30 AM
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OTTAWA — Health Canada is warning that test strips to detect the illicit opioid fentanyl in street drugs may not produce accurate results.
The federal department’s Drug Analysis Service undertook a study to compare the results of a fentanyl test strip product against its more accurate laboratory technology.
Results to date are very preliminary, but show there’s a possibility for a small number of false negatives.
A false negative means the test result does not identify fentanyl in a drug sample even when it’s present, which could lead to a false sense of security that could result in an overdose or death.
