Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

By Dylana Milobar

ILLICIT SUBSTANCE TESTING

Fentanyl test strips and drug identification machine worthwhile for at-risk substance users

May 16, 2019 | 5:19 PM

KAMLOOPS — For nearly a year, ASK Wellness has been giving people who use drugs in Kamloops a chance to know what exactly is in their substances.

The fentanyl test strip pilot program, along with a new drug-testing machine, can give users an idea of what is in their drugs, and how potentially deadly it could be.

Currently, ASK Wellness is not allowed to go out and deliver test strips to people, however they’re hoping that by this summer, that could change.

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ASK’s test machine operational technician, Kile McKenna, says Interior Health and the BC Centre for Disease Control have been working with ASK Wellness to implement the fentanyl test strip program, and if enough data is gathered proving it’s usefulness, they will be given the go-ahead to provide test strips to people on the streets.

“Just like naloxone originally, it was quite restricted, there is special training,” McKenna says, “Now we’ve found that there are not a lot of negative outcomes for widely distributing it. So it’s much more accessible, and that’s what we’re hoping to see with the fentanyl test strips as well.”

The free kits offered, which include 5 test strips, and a small survey for data collection, can be picked up Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m at ASK Wellness centres in Kamloops, and Merritt.

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

According to a recent report from the BC CDC with data from the B.C Coroners Service, people between 19 and 59 years old have the highest overdose rates.

Over 40 per cent of all paramedic-attended overdose events involve men aged 19 to 39, and almost 25 per cent involve men aged 40 to 59.

Due to the stigma still surrounding addiction and mental health struggles, McKenna says the worry is people using drugs alone in the privacy of their home won’t come out to organizations like ASK to get the test kits.

McKenna says despite overdose prevention sites being safe spaces for people to have illicit substances without legal action being taken, it can be hard for people to expose their addiction beyond private use.

However, the test strips aren’t exclusive to ASK Wellness or Interior Health. McKenna says a similar style of test strip can be bought at local dollar stores.

Once users have the strip, they can dilute a small amount of a substance in water, dip the strip in, and see whether it tests positive for fentanyl. (Pictured below, a negative test with two pink lines, and a positive fentanyl test with one pink line.)

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

“I’ve never seen heroin without fentanyl accompanying it,” McKenna explains, “Other drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine — those are quite rare instances. I would say what is more common is somebody coming in, and having an entirely different drug than they thought.”

For determining what else could be in a drug, users can have their supply checked by the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy machine, which McKenna says they have nicknamed “Francene”.

“So any of the substances that are in there that match up with our database — which is a pretty comprehensive database full of all the known drugs and cuts that are commonly seen around,” he says. “We can identify substances there, and even give some approximate information on percentages and potency.”

Currently, McKenna says ASK offers the machine at their 433 Tranquille Road location, but they also take the FTIR machine to various pharmacies around town, and bring it to music festivals for drug testing.

Those widespread efforts have made a noticeable impact for people living with addiction.

Michael Lavoie, who has used the machine himself, says he has seen it help many of his companions.

“Judging by how many people have been given Narcan and saved, I’d have to saw they are making a great difference, right?”

Lavoie says he is currently working on treating his addiction, and is grateful for not only the testing, but the wraparound services ASK provides to address the root of mental trauma.

“Every day is a better day. Like I said, today is my birthday, so hopefully I’ll have another one next year.”

Similarly, Conan Sloan has also utilized the service, and says it’s helpful to know what is in the substance, and whether it could be deadly.

“Not only with the testing, there’s the harm reduction as they put it, for supplies so that people don’t have to re-use things and that so it’s a lot cleaner,” Sloan says. “(However) people do need to clean up their garbage a little bit better.”

For now, ASK Wellness will continue the test strip pilot project and running their machine to give drug users a chance to live long enough to get better.