New Vancouver research project provides home drug-testing kits to users

published on May 17, 2019 by Ben Mussett in Vancouver Courier

On the same day new provincial data showed most drug-related deaths occur in private residences, local health agencies announced a research project that works toward combatting that very phenomenon.

On May 15, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) announced a pilot project that provides take-home testing kits to people who use drugs. The kits determine whether drugs are contaminated with fentanyl or a fentanyl-analogue, which produces a similar response to fentanyl, ideally encouraging users with drugs that test positive to take more caution and not use alone.

Drug testing is already administered by trained technicians at Coastal Health sites in Vancouver, but researchers want to see whether users can successfully test drugs on their own…