Public Drug Testing Sites Are Helping Dealers Prevent Overdoses

published on October 30, 2019 by Luke Ottenhof in VICE

Street-level dealers in Vancouver are accessing free drug checking services at overdose prevention sites around the city. In doing so, they’re keeping folks in their community—their clients—safe.

James*, a dealer and user who accesses testing services at an overdose prevention site in Surrey, British Columbia for roughly a year, and says that more and more street-level dealers are using the service.

“I use it every week,” he says. “As often as I can get in there and do it, I do.” James and other dealers were initially concerned about the privacy of testing services, and in his site’s case, its proximity to the police station, which is next door. “At first I was a little wary,” he says. “[My concerns] were all quashed within a month or two. Once you get to know the team there, you realize that they’re just there to help. They don’t want to know anything. They just want to be there for the safety of everybody.”…