Deal Us In
What You Need To Know
Drug checking helps people who use drugs test their substances to understand what is in them. By knowing what is in their drugs, they can make informed decisions to meet their health and wellness goals.
Too often this technology is limited to law enforcement to aid in the prosecution of drug related charges, increasing harm instead of deterring it. This must change.
When you purchase a medication like Ibuprofen from a pharmacy, you can be certain that what you purchase is truly Ibuprofen. That’s because over the counter medication is legal and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Today street drugs are criminalized which pushes them underground where there is no regulation. Because of this, drugs often contain multiple unexpected substances.
Drug checking is a powerful practice that can help us reduce the harms created by prohibition and racialized drug policy.
The ‘silver bullet’ technology for point-of-care drug checking would meet the following criteria:
Accurate: The instrument reliably and correctly identifies all components in a sample.
Fast: Point-of-care drug checking results are available within 15 minutes.
Sensitive: The instrument can reliably identify small and even trace amounts of components in a sample.
Easy to operate: Instrument can be operated without needing intensive training and does not require extensive maintenance.
Affordable: The instrument is priced for direct-service programs and not for large-scale research labs.
Portable: The instrument can easily be moved from place to place and can be used in different settings.