Olivia Dickerson
Research Mentor(s): Chin Hwa Dahlem
Mentor Department: HBBS
Authors: Whitney Ludwig, Olivia Dickerson, Chin Hwa Dahlem
Session: Session 2 (10:00am – 10:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 110
Abstract
Unregulated illicit drugs place people who use drugs (PWUD) at an increased risk for overdose. Drug-checking services provide PWUD information about the contents of their substance through various modalities: 1). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) 2). Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS), and 3) immunoassay test strips. When administered with other harm reduction services, drug-checking services play a critical role in reducing the risk of overdoses for PWUD. The policies that regulate drug-checking services and drug paraphernalia are ambiguous and therefore lead to barriers in the implementation of drug-checking services. Without clear, decisive policies on drug-checking services, they impede the ability of these services to operate effectively due to fears of criminal prosecution. We conducted a scoping review of thirty empirical studies that examined the influence of drug paraphernalia laws on community-based drug-checking services. Eligible studies were identified through JSTOR, Michigan Legislature Bills, and PubMed using key words such as drug checking services, drug paraphernalia, PWUD, and drug paraphernalia policy. These studies focused on information about the legal implications of drug-checking services on people who use drugs and DCS providers. This information was logged into an Excel sheet, where it was categorized by the articles’ methods, key findings, and location. Ambiguous drug paraphernalia laws left drug-checking services and their participants vulnerable to legal consequences. Due to these vulnerabilities, people who use drugs are deterred from using these programs, which may increase the likelihood of overdoses. In addition to this, drug decriminalization was found to be a more successful route if there were increased drug-checking services provided. Drug-checking services are a valuable component in delivering harm reduction services and have been shown to save the lives of PWUD, laws regarding the possession of drug paraphernalia need to be clarified to protect those who provide and use these services.
