Examining fentanyl and its analogues in the unregulated drug supply of British Columbia, Canada using drug checking technologies

Original research
par
Crepault, Hannah et al

Date de publication

2022

Géographie

Canada

Langue de la ressource

English

Texte disponible en version intégrale

Non

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Non

Évalué par des pairs

Yes

L’objectif

The objective of this study was to determine the number of drug checking samples containing fentanyl and fentanyl analogues using both point of care and confirmatory drug checking technologies.

Constatations/points à retenir

Our research found that FTIR does not consistently distinguish between fentanyl and its analogues at point of care and that highly sensitive confirmatory drug checking technologies are needed to identify fentanyl analogues.

La conception ou méthodologie de recherche

Point-of-care drug checking data, using a combination of fentanyl immunoassay strips and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), were collected at harm reduction sites in Vancouver and Surrey, British Columbia. Based on current recommendations from the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use Drug Checking Project, a subset of these samples was sent for confirmatory analysis using quantitative nuclear resonance spectroscopy, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and/or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Mots clés

Drug checking
Illegal drugs