Police departments to distribute fentanyl test strips to fight overdose

More police departments nationwide are opting in to harm reduction tools in the fight against fentanyl.

Seven police departments in Maine are getting fentanyl test strips and will be distributing them in the community, which they hope will reduce the number of fatal drug overdoses in the state, according to WGME. The goal is for police to distribute them to people battling a substance use disorder so they can test the drugs they're about to take to see if they're laced with the powerful synthetic opioid.

It only takes a small amount of the illicit substance to do deadly damage. Both public health and law enforcement experts say the amount it takes to overdose on fentanyl is about the size of two grains of salt.

WGME reports that in Maine, 2020 proved to be the single worst year for drug overdose deaths, with 502 people losing their lives, 85 more deaths that the previous high in 2017.

Here at home, the Pacific Northwest is being flooded with fentanyl and the coronavirus pandemic is only making the problem worse, according to a new report released by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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Oregon’s 580 deaths from drug overdoses are among the more than 81,000 drug overdose deaths that occurred in the United States in the 12 months ending in May 2020, the Oregon Health Authority stated.

From January to June 2020, at least 339 people died of a drug overdose in Oregon. This figure is nearly 40% higher than the number of overdose deaths from the same period in 2019 and represents an increase of nearly 35% from the previous six-month period, July to December 2019.

The synthetic opioid fentanyl is approved for treating severe pain. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains that the most recent cases of fentanyl-related harm, overdose, and death in the U.S. are linked to illegally-made fentanyl. It is often mixed with heroin and/or cocaine as a combination product, with or without the user’s knowledge. CDC officials said.

In 2016, synthetic opioids, primarily illegal fentanyl, passed prescription opioids as the most common drugs involved in overdose deaths in the United States, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

It's a huge reason why Haven Wheelock, a syringe exchange coordinator in the Outside In harm reduction programs, hands out free fentanyl test strips to any client who wants them.

"Knowing anything is better than knowing nothing," Wheelock told KATU in March 2020. "The pros are that people do change their behaviors. We've seen, in research, that people choose to use in safer ways when they know fentanyl is present."

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Data from a study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health showed that 70% of people who use drugs would modify their drug use behaviors if their drugs tested positive for fentanyl.

"This could include not using the drugs, using the drugs more slowly, or using the drugs with others who have naloxone. It could also include changing their purchasing behaviors," the study explained.

Wheelock explained that a drug user is able to mix a little bit of drug residue with water, dip in a fentanyl test strip, and wait 30 seconds for a reveal from the fentanyl test strip as to whether or not the synthetic substance is present.

Fentanyl test strips detect fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, the Washington Department of Health said.

Wheelock told KATU it's another tool in the fight against fentanyl.

"It's not going to end the overdose crisis. It's not going to change our systemic issues with lack of access to treatment and things like that," Wheelock said. "But it is going to allow people to have a little more autonomy and a little more education about what they do."

21 police departments in Massachusetts and Maine have been chosen to receive fentanyl test strips by participating in the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative’s One2One: Engagement to Recovery program. They'll also be providing referrals to treatment and information about other resources available to those who use drugs and their loved ones.