1) Fentanyl has been sold in gel capsule form – The main concern here is that it could be mistaken for a party drug like MDMA. Two folks overdosed on this sample at the Overdose Prevention Society site - the Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results showed: Caffeine, Test strip: Positive (1-5% Fentanyl or analogue).
2) Carfentanyl and Benzodiazepine contamination seems to still be a likely issue – remind folks to start off slow and access Supervised Injection Site (SIS)/ Overdose Prevention Site (OPS). Please also refer to the recent 'Management of Overdose from suspected Benzodiazepine/similar substances' document which was emailed out and can also be found on the COP Blog page. This outlines procedures and intervention strategies for supporting such overdoses at your sites.
3) Kyle Besaw, Drug Technician from VCH has been drug checking at the OPS, SPH OPS & PSG mostly.
4) Working with Peers is really valuable and critical to supporting and providing the drug checking services currently available.
Check the Drug Checking Blog for the updated Drug Checking Spectrometer schedule.
Be aware of other pop-up sites in the community for drug testing:
Health Initiative for Men (HIM) - FTIR Drug checking pop-ups are done at the Davie location, exploring with HIM to do drug checking for events (Pride, Ruff party, NYE).
Fentanyl test strips are currently available at; St. Paul's Hospital OPS (SPH), Powell Street Getaway (PSG), Sisterspace (SS), ICY (Foundry), Insite, and Molson OPS (MOPS).
Robert and Lily Lee Family Community Health Clinic (RLLFCHC) - The pop-up here has been going well, on average 1-4 participants. Upcoming drug checking dates here are April 12th and 26th from 4:30pm-7:30pm. – If you would like any information or posters for your space please let us know!