VANCOUVER -- Vancouver Coastal Health says designated sites within the health authority will soon offer fentanyl test strips that can be taken home to allow people to privately check their drugs.
A release from Coastal Health says when it comes to identifying opioids contaminated by fentanyl, results from a new study show take-home drug checking is just as accurate as checks done at a health care facility.
A doctor with the health authority says not everyone wants to go to a community health centre, overdose prevention or supervised consumption site to assess whether traces of ultra-powerful fentanyl are in their drugs.
But officials say most overdose victims are using alone, so being able to use the strips to check their stash could help those people make safer choices.
