Drug Checking in NYC

With an increasingly contaminated drug supply and ongoing trends of poly substance use, harm reduction strategies remain a critical pillar in New York’s response to keep people who use drugs safe and reduce the potential harms associated with their use. 

New York’s Drug Checking Service offers people who use drugs timely and detailed information on the contents of their drugs, helping them to make more informed decisions.

This service also shares information on New York’s unregulated drug supply with harm reduction workers and clinicians to help them tailor the care they provide to people who use drugs, while informing advocacy, research, and policy.

There are currently two Drug Checking Programs being operated by the New York State Department of Health.

• Community Drug Checking
  Selected Drug User Hubs are utilizing a spectroscopy machine and fentanyl, xylazine, and benzodiazepine test strips to examine residual amounts of substances brought in by individuals and provide them with essential information to make an informed decision regarding their potential use. This program focuses on rapid identification of substances that individuals intend to use and integrating safer using practices/health-protective behaviors. To ensure staff can interpret initial results accurately, technicians and programs utilize a confirmatory laboratory and drug checking consultant to ensure accurate sample analysis, scan interpretation, and to further examination of unidentifiable substances. Regardless of the identified substance(s), harm reduction strategies are always provided to the participants for further education and guidance.
• Rapid Drug Analysis and Research (RaDAR)
  The RaDAR program allows people who use drugs to better understand what is in their supply, leading to opportunities for safer use behaviors and reduced risk of harms associated with illicit drug use. Secondarily, the information generated from this drug checking will improve public health surveillance of the illicit drug environment. Using a trace residue, wipe-based analysis approach (analogous to explosives detection at the airports) enables collection of samples from a wide range of sources and minimizes any exposure or safety risks. Once collected, wipes are then mailed to a centralized location which uses rapid, high-resolution mass spectrometry to enable high-throughput, sensitive analysis with uniform reporting. 

Source: NY State Department of Health:  Drug Checking (ny.gov)