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Drug checking: a potential solution to the opioid overdose epidemic? Bardwell, Geoff; Kerr, Thomas

Abstract

Background: North America is experiencing an overdose epidemic driven in part by the proliferation of illicitly-manufactured fentanyl and related analogues. In response, communities are scaling up novel overdose prevention interventions. Included are drug checking technologies. Main body: Drug checking technologies aim to identify the contents of illicit drugs. These technologies vary considerably in terms of cost, accuracy, and usability, and while efforts are now underway to implement drug checking programs for people who inject drugs, there remains a lack of rigorous evaluation of their impacts. Conclusion: Given the ongoing overdose crisis and the urgent need for effective responses, research on drug checking should be prioritized. However, while such research should be supported, it should be completed before these technologies are widely implemented.

Item Metadata

Title
Drug checking: a potential solution to the opioid overdose epidemic?
Creator
Bardwell, Geoff; Kerr, Thomas
Contributor
British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS; British Columbia Centre on Substance Use; St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver, B.C.)
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2018-05-25
Description
Background: North America is experiencing an overdose epidemic driven in part by the proliferation of illicitly-manufactured fentanyl and related analogues. In response, communities are scaling up novel overdose prevention interventions. Included are drug checking technologies. Main body: Drug checking technologies aim to identify the contents of illicit drugs. These technologies vary considerably in terms of cost, accuracy, and usability, and while efforts are now underway to implement drug checking programs for people who inject drugs, there remains a lack of rigorous evaluation of their impacts. Conclusion: Given the ongoing overdose crisis and the urgent need for effective responses, research on drug checking should be prioritized. However, while such research should be supported, it should be completed before these technologies are widely implemented.
Subject
Drug checking technologies; Opioid epidemic; Drug use; Overdose prevention
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2018-05-25
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0367402
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/66106
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Other UBC; Medicine, Department of
Citation
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy. 2018 May 25;13(1):20
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s13011-018-0156-3
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Copyright Holder
The Author(s).
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Rights

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)