Drug Checking Equipment for Fentanyl and Other Substances (UPDATE) – a FACT SHEET by the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association

“Drug checking” is a strategy to prevent overdoses among individuals who use illicitly obtained drugs by informing these individuals of the substances present in a sample and if those substances include an unexpected adulterant, and while drug checking programs are more common in parts of Europe and Canada, the proliferation of adulterants such as fentanyl and xylazine in the American illicit drug supply over the past decade has led to an increased interest in drug checking—and the equipment used to do it—in the United States. Drug checking equipment (DCE) includes both simple drug checking methods and more complex options. Simple DCE, such as fentanyl test strips (FTS) and other rapid drug test strips, liquid reagent tests, and thin layer chromatography kits, provide qualitative information about the presence of a particular drug/substance—or lack thereof—for which the test is designed. In June 2021, LAPPA published a fact sheet on FTS. LAPPA’s 2021 fact sheet addressed how disposable, single-use FTS work as a drug checking tool, studies investigating their efficacy, and the obstacle to large-scale FTS distribution created by state laws criminalizing the use and possession of drug paraphernalia. Now, five years later, some aspects of drug checking and FTS described in the 2021 fact sheet remain the same, while others have changed. The purpose of this fact sheet is to update stakeholders on the availability of rapid test strips for drugs other than fentanyl, new limitations on using federal funds for rapid drug test strips, new studies, and the lessening of state law obstacles.

Read the Fact Sheet.