A New Strategy to Prevent Fentanyl Overdoses: Testing the Drugs

Machines that examine drug samples can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, but experts say they're one more tool additionally vital to stemming overdoses.

VideoResearchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill test drug samples using a device known as a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. N.C. — The white powder, deposited in a small tube, arrived one morning by FedEx in a basement on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Erin Tracy, a college chemist specializing in drug testing, began searching for the answer. She dispensed the sample into a small vial and then loaded it into a device the size of a $600,000 refrigerator known as a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, which is commonly used in university chemistry laboratories. A nearby computer displayed the results in a line graph with a dramatic peak - the fentanyl signal.

There was only a trace of xylazine, a confirmed the machine. In a state increasingly beleaguered by drugs in the street supply, the results of the test, conducted in September, amounted to partial relief.

The Job in North Carolina is part of a strategy known as harm reduction, which aims not to get users into abstinence, but to give them the tools to use drugs safely, keeping them safe from infections, injuries and death. President Biden is the first president to endorse the strategy, giving it a federal imprimatur that health experts say could transform the way the United States deals with drug use.

Drug testing samples at the lab and in a growing number of cities across the country is providing new insights to researchers and addicts about what's in the local drug supply. Addicts can find out what's in a substance before they use it, alert other addicts to potential dangers in the supply, or find out why a drug caused an overdose or other reaction. The Chapel Hill team also looked at samples of drugs that caused fatal overdoses, then passed the results on to harm reduction groups.

The work Testing in North Carolina and elsewhere, known as drug control, has become especially critical in recognizing fentanyl, a synthetic opioid and a major culprit in many overdose deaths in recent years. Other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, are often mixed with fentanyl.

Picture