More than half of street drugs tested don’t contain what you think: study

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It looks like the majority of street drugs in Vancouver don’t contain what users think they do.
That’s according to a drug checking pilot study that started last November, in which 1,714 substances were analyzed.

“Which allows people who use street drugs to submit samples for analysis using point of care methods of what’s called a Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer in conjunction with fentanyl test strips,” explains Kenneth Tupper, Director of Implementation and Partnerships at the BC Centre on Substance Use. “We have found that the street drug supply in Vancouver is very much adulterated with fentanyl, but we’re now able to provide some quantities or proportions of the drug supply that that’s the case for.”


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The six-month study found less than 39 per cent of substances tested contained what the person buying the drugs expected.

“Samples that people believe are heroin very rarely now contain any actual heroin or diacetylmorphine, but for the most part are caffeine mixed with some kind of sugar substitute and then positive for fentanyl.”

The study allowed people to anonymously submit samples of street drugs for testing, and Tupper says the findings aren’t all that surprising.

“Given the epidemiology and the overdose statistics, it’s not a surprise. What we have found is that other types of drugs that people are bringing for example such as stimulants — such as cocaine and methamphetamine — have some fentanyl adulteration, but not nearly as much as we feared. Only about five per cent of stimulants are testing positive for fentanyl, and other types of drugs such as psychedelics or party drugs, we haven’t found any fentanyl in those samples.”

He adds it’s important to note this is a small subpopulation. “This is being done at two supervised injection sites in Vancouver, so the clientele is sort of street-entrenched, regular, usually opioid users. So there’s a much broader population of people whose drugs that these findings may not be applicable for, but certainly some new information.”

Tupper says the findings are very concerning. “It shows that the illicit drug supply is, as we should know, not regulated or controlled in any way. So it’s very much a buyer-beware situation, which is putting people at unnecessary risk for their health.”

He highlights a number of benefits linked to drug checking, the first being the consumer safety aspect. “Which basically allows people who have their drugs checked to make better, informed decisions such as whether to use, how much to use, or in what context to use… If they get results that are of concern then there are different decision opportunities for them.”

Testing, Tupper adds, also creates a point of engagement for users and starts a conversation with them. “It also provides surveillance and monitoring for public health officials to have early detection and provide warnings of adulterants or contaminants.”

“It helps policy makers make better-informed and timely policy decisions.”

The testing is currently made available at two safe injection sites — Safepoint in Surrey and Insite in Vancouver. Though it’s not widely available, Tupper says the BCCSU is in talks with Vancouver Coastal Health about providing drug checking services at other types of locations.

“Originally we were requested by Health Canada to do this at currently authorize supervised injection sites, which have the necessary federal exemptions to allow this kind of thing to take place, but upon further discussions there’s a perceived recognition that this could be something that could be helpful for a broader population.”

There were more than 1,400 suspected overdose deaths in BC last year; a 43 per cent increase from the total number of deaths in 2016.

There have been just less than 400 suspected fatal overdoses between January and March of 2018.

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