Fentanyl and benzo test strips now available at harm reduction sites

Clients of both Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR) and the Newo Yotina Friendship Centre will now be able to make sure their drugs don’t have fentanyl or benzodiazepine — more commonly known as benzo.

This is thanks to a new initiative by the provincial government which provides strips to test drugs for both substances, which have been linked to the rising overdose crisis in Saskatchewan.

Fentanyl is incredibly toxic — even a small amount can be fatal — and it’s connected to about two-thirds of the 73 confirmed overdose deaths in the province so far this year. There are also 105 unconfirmed deaths as of June 30.

The strips are only available at Saskatoon’s PHR and Regina’s Friendship Centre.

Jason Mercredi, PHR’s executive director said the test strips are a great start.

“We’re glad that it’s integrated into a provincial system so that we can get better real-time data,” he said.

What Mercredi is referring to is a new system — not available for the public’s eyes — the province integrated in last week to track overdoses, along with reports on positive tainted supply within the community.

The strips do not show how much of the harmful substance is in the specific drug, but they are able to indicate the presence of such substances.

This is similar to a device PHR looked to purchase in the past. When the group committed to it, the province approached them with the news it would be rolling out with the test strips, according to Mercredi.

“We got the testing strips, so that’s where we’re going to start. We’re still hopeful (we’ll) get some equipment in by the end of the year and working with the province potentially down the road,” he said.

The tainted drug supply does not stop at city limits. Mercredi said he is worried about rural areas and anyone using outside a safe consumption site.

“We got to look at some innovative models and potentially making the strips available to the public,” he said. “We’re hopeful we can get something set up for the rural (community) soon.”

After “no’s” in the last two budget cycles to fund Mercredi’s safe consumption site, the wording on the provincial release Tuesday offered a different response.

“The Ministry of Health asks all those using street drugs to not use alone.  Go to an overdose prevention or supervised consumption site, use the buddy system or call the National Overdose Response Service (1-888-688-6677),” the release stated.

When asked if the province has changed its stance on the overdose crisis, Mercredi said.

“I think this is showing that they know that safe consumption sites work. We’re effective at preventing overdoses and engaging this population. We’re hopeful for the future. We’re excited because this is furthering harm reduction in Saskatchewan in a pretty major way,” he said.

“We’re hopeful that the province is going to come around to funding the safe consumption site.”

On that note, Mercredi said PHR hasn’t had any meetings or conversations with the Ministry of Health to fund the site. Meetings were set up, and taken, by the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

PHR receives $320,000 from the Ministry of Health to run its outreach services and naloxone trainers. An additional $670,000 is given for its Family Support Program, which runs off-site near PHR at an apartment building.