Global review of drug checking services operating in 2017
Global review of drug checking services operating in 2017
Introduction
Drug checking services invite members of the public to anonymously submit psychoactive drug samples for forensic analysis and then provide individualised feedback of results and counselling as appropriate. These services are known under many names, including: drug checking (services), street drug analysis, pill testing, adulterant screening, multi-agency safety testing, and drug safety testing. Here, we use the term ‘drug checking services’, while acknowledging that a lack of agreement about terminology persists.
The rationale for the operation of these services is to inform people who decide to use currently illegal drugs or new psychoactive substances (NPS) about the content and purity of the products, so they can make a more informed decision about whether to use them or how to use them (Brunt et al., 2017). These services also monitor drug market changes and when particularly dangerous drug samples are identified, they can issue tailored public alerts and inform specific harm reduction interventions (Vidal Giné et al., 2017). (NATIONAL DRUG AND ALCOHOL RESEARCH CENTRE, Australien, 2018)