As fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths continue to soar, more and more states are legalizing the use of fentanyl test strips as part of harm-reduction programs to help save lives. Test strips are cheap and easy to use, and although they don’t gauge the amount of fentanyl in the drug they can detect its presence, which is critical as even a small amount of the powerful synthetic opioid can kill the user. Using testing strips seems like a no-brainer with more than 100,000 Americans dying each year from an overdose, a majority of such cases related to fentanyl. But due to drug paraphernalia laws enacted decades ago, many states still consider test strips off limits, including Florida, which recently rejected decriminalization. Test strips are illegal in about half of all states, including many in which overdose fatalities are spiking. In others, like Ohio, test strips are more easily available, including in vending machines, alongside the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. Test strips are all the more important now, as drug dealers increasingly contaminate all types of illicit drugs such as heroin and meth as well as legal ones like Xanax and marijuana with fentanyl to increase the high that many users crave. But many individuals take the drugs unknowingly and quickly overdose. Reversing old laws that define drug paraphernalia to include test strips—thereby blocking their large-scale use—is a simple and easy way to expand usage and save lives.
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Rosenthal Center for AddictIon Studies