Fentanyl test strips detect deadly synthetic opioid in drug supply (Washington Times)

Monday May 14th, 2018

Public health advocates and officials are at odds over programs that allow drug users to bring in their illicit drugs to test them for a deadly synthetic opioid.

Health advocates say such programs help reduce fatal overdoses by fentanyl, a powerful synthetic that has taken lives and ravaged communities across the country.

“I would not want the message to be, just because the fentanyl strip test is negative, that the drug is safe to use,” said Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen. “For us, naloxone [the overdose reversal medication] needs to be in everyone’s medicine cabinet and everyone’s first aid kit.”

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When I’ve asked experts about these approaches, it’s not that any of them are bad. It’s that they fall short. For instance, Leana Wen, the former health commissioner of Baltimore (and soon-to-be president of Planned Parenthood), said that the Support for Patients and Communities Act “is simply tinkering around the edges.”

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