Advanced Drug Checking Services: Considerations for Syringe Services Programs

Overdose mortality in the United States has reached record levels over the past decade, driven primarily by an unregulated and adulterated drug supply containing substances like illicitly manufactured fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and more recently xylazine and benzodiazepines, among other emerging drugs. Syringe services programs (SSPs) deliver essential, evidence-based services to people who use drugs and initially responded to these drug supply changes by providing drug checking services (DCS) like fentanyl test strips to participants. Some SSPs have implemented more advanced DCS that rely on machines and techniques such as mass spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Staff members from 23 SSPs, ranging in organizational type and region, discussed their experiences with and considerations for DCS implementation. Their experiences are summarized in this fact sheet alongside expert considerations and recent literature to support integration of advanced DCS in SSPs and other harm reduction organizations.

This resource shares findings from the Strengthening Syringe Services Programs project and was made possible by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cooperative agreement NU52PS910232. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

The fact sheet can be found and downloaded here: Advanced drug checking services: Considerations for syringe services programs