Drug control as a Harm Reduction Tool: The Role of Drug Screening and Supply Surveillance
Summary:
Minnesota and Vermont have recently taken bold steps to explicitly legalize, fund and expand drug control resources, including tools like mass spectrometers and fentanyl test strips. Such resources provide people with real-time information about their medications and help limit the risk of overdose. Also, they help public health and harm reduction workers understand the drug supply available to manage crises and reduce risk. The article advocates for more state legislators and organizations to adopt similar policies that prioritize drug control as a harm reduction tool, as well as its expansion as a community tool.
Although drug screening is a reliable means of testing what is in the drug supply, the majority of the resulting data is collected through punishment. For instance, a positive urine drug test could lead to loss of employment or custody of a child, as well as imprisonment. The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 is an example of legislations that have turned this discrimination into law. It requires employers who receive federal contracts to drug test their employees, and some legislators have gone further, pushing for drug testing of people who receive government support, such as food and housing stamps. Interestingly, the choices on who to test, especially in hospitals, are often discriminatory.
Nevertheless, when an individual knows what is in their drug supply, they can make better-informed decisions to limit harm, such as using smaller amounts, avoiding mixing drugs or using them alone. Knowing the exact drug content can also inform the usage of naloxone. However, to ensure timely and accurate communication of the local drug supply, there should be approaches with neither discrimination nor punishment.
For this reason, the article’s authors and others at Brown University collaborate to run a pilot drug surveillance project called testRI. They collect used drug samples and paraphernalia from different parts of the state and test the substances for constituents using an essential machine in the hospital’s toxicology laboratory. This enables them to understand what is in the local drug supply and put together a detailed list of the identified substances. Moreover, they publish and distribute their test data in the community to provide information on the substances detected and ways to cut down the risk.
Additional Piece:
Given the wave of drug-related mortalities across the United States, it is crucial to prioritize the safety of drugs and make sure that suppliers provide only legal and safe substances to the consumers. While it is impossible to eliminate drug use or traffic, drug enforcement agencies should instead focus their energies on saving lives. The program by Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, testRI, is a promising example of how to curb drug-related mortality. However, it is just one means to limit drug-related mortalities.
To reach more individuals, especially those in remote areas, the government could increase public awareness of harm reduction practices. Public awareness campaigns could leverage social media, radio, and even televisions to educate people on tackling drug use addiction or reporting any suspected supplier. Governments could also establish more drug-check programs to encourage people to submit their drugs for sample analysis, which may reduce the level of opioid intake by pinpointing the harmful substances in the drugs.
Additionally, states could also enforce policies that provide naloxone kits, also called Narcan, to every individual who visits their clinics or emergency departments. A recent study by the University of California, Los Angeles, reported that less than a quarter of high-risk drug users receive naloxone kits in the U.S every year. Thus, there is a need to increase distributions of harm reduction kits, especially in regions with higher cases of drug-related mortality.
Finally, given the potential adverse effects of prolonged drug use, there could be an increase in funding for mental health programs that focus on drug use dependency and treatment. Mental health programs may provide counseling, medication, and helplines for individuals seeking help to curb their drug use dependency problems. The overall goal of mental health programs is to limit drug use addiction and provide the necessary support systems to individuals seeking help.
Conclusion:
Drug screenings, drug supply surveillance, and harm reduction practices are critical in reducing drug-related mortalities in the US and several other countries worldwide. Therefore, governments and health organizations should prioritize the care of drug addicts rather than punishing them with drug tests, imprisonment, or other actions. Implementing harm reduction programs can not only save lives but also reduce the total cost of healthcare spent on drug-related mortalities, which hit a record high in the past years. Its investment by government and other organizations would be a step in the right direction towards curbing drug-related mortalities.
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about the past two weeks, Minnesota and Vermont took steps to explicitly legalize, fund, and expand drug control resources. These are important developments for drug policy. Tools like mass spectrometers and fentanyl test strips give people real-time information about what’s in their medications, which can help them make more informed decisions and reduce the chance of an overdose. In addition, they help public health and harm reduction workers understand what is in the drug supply, a necessary prerequisite for them to respond to crises and reduce risk. More local legislators and organizations should follow in the footsteps of Minnesota and Vermont and implement policies that emphasize drug control as a harm reduction tool and expand its use as a community tool.
In addition to drug screening, we can find out what’s in the drug supply through drug supply surveillance. Most of this surveillance data is collected through drug seizures by law enforcement, drug screening in clinical settings or after death, and urine-based drug screening of individuals in treatment programs. of drugs. In short, this information is often collected through punitive measures. A positive urine drug test can result in loss of custody of a childdenial or loss of employment, and imprisonment. We have turned this discrimination into law with legislation like the Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988, which requires employers who receive federal contracts to drug test their employees. Some legislators have gone further, pushing for drug test people who receive government support such as food and housing stamps. And the choices about who to test are often discriminatory. A published study earlier this year, for example, it found that hospitals are more likely to drug test black women who are pregnant than white women, despite no difference in the positive test rates.
When you know what might be in your drug supply, you can be better prepared to reduce harm. You may choose to use smaller amounts, avoid mixing drugs, or not use them alone. I could start taking naloxone. But for this to be possible, we need timely and accurate communication about the local drug supply, which requires approaches that are neither punitive nor discriminatory.
Along with others at Brown University School of Medicine and Rhode Island Hospital, we run a pilot drug surveillance project called testRI, which takes donated samples of used drugs and paraphernalia from people across the state and Test using an integral machine in the hospital’s toxicology laboratory. This gives us a detailed list of all the substances that were in the sample and allows us to understand what is in the local drug supply. Then our test data is compiled, published onlineand distributed in the community, along with information on what substances were detected and how to reduce the risk. In MarchFor example, someone told us they thought they were buying fentanyl, but when we analyzed the sample we also found xylazine, a powerful animal tranquilizer. This drug can cause serious injury and cause prolonged sedation, which can complicate responses to overdose. Once we documented the presence of xylazine, we created and distributed a magazine to people in the community with information about what the drug is, how it manifests itself locally, and how people can care for the skin wounds it causes and respond to overdoses.
We’re not the only ones taking this kind of approach. TO laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill runs a drug-check-by-mail program, where people from all over the country can send in substances to be tested. And the NY The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene offers drug screening programs at three sites, allowing people to see what’s in the substances they have on hand and giving them tips on how to reduce risk.
Combining drug verification programs with comprehensive drug supply surveillance efforts is critical to quickly understanding and responding to changes in the supply. But for these efforts to be effective, they must be community-driven, with the goal of reaching people where they already are. When we work with local partners to publish on instagram and Twitter and distributing magazines and other printed materials, led to funding for wound care kits distributed by harm reduction agencies in the state, and additions to the state overdose dashboard.
https://www.wired.com/story/to-combat-the-overdose-crisis-expand-drug-checking-programs/
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