Module One: History of Drug Checking

A brief history of drug checking in the United States and around the world.

The Origins of Drug Checking

For as long as humans have used drugs, whether as medicine, spiritual practice, or in the pursuit of pleasure, they have checked drugs. By using sight, smell, and taste alongside the experience of using it, the body was the original drug checking technology. Technologies able to analyze drug samples have existed for decades, but until recently these technologies have been predominantly used as tools of surveillance, law enforcement and prohibition. Information about the drug supply has existed, but generally has not circled back to communities of people who use drugs with the intention of improving their health and wellbeing.

Modern drug checking as we know it was first popularized through festival and nightlife events. Colorimetric analysis, or reagent testing, was used at festivals and rave scenes across Europe in the 1970s to identify unexpected adulterants in psychedelic and other nightlife drugs. In the United States, DanceSafe was an early pioneer in this field and helped to expand reagent drug checking beginning in the early 1990s. Also in the 1990s, Erowid launched DrugsData (formerly EcstasyData), a drug checking service using advanced analytical chemistry equipment like GC/MS to test drug samples that were mailed from across the country. Energy Control, a pioneering harm reduction and drug checking service out of Spain, was founded in 1997 and mentored the development of Échele Cabeza, Latin America’s largest harm reduction and drug checking service based in Bogotá Colombia. Échele Cabeza in turn has mentored several programs across Latin America such as Proyeco Soma in Peru and Checa tu Sustancia in Mexico City.

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2010s and the beginning of FTIR

Point-of-care drug checking with an FTIR spectrometer began at festivals in the UK in the early-to-mid-2010s. The Loop, an organization born from an interest in the intersection of harm reduction and music, began implementing FTIR spectrometer testing of drug samples at festivals in the UK¹. The Loop remains a leader in drug checking and is an active part of many different drug checking communities today. In 2017 and early 2018, in response to the escalating overdose crisis in British Columbia, the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU), the Substance program at the University of Victoria, and other programs across Canada implemented direct service FTIR-based drug checking for opioid- and other drug-using communities in British Columbia and other regions of the country². This model was born out of elements from The Loop’s pioneering work with FTIR and ANKORS’ (AIDS Network Kootenay Outreach and Support Society) music festival model. Early technicians in Canada were trained to use FTIR spectrometers to analyze all types of drug samples, but mainly checked opioids, methamphetamine, and cocaine. Drug checking services were embedded within existing harm reduction programs or in supervised consumption sites (SCS; also known as overdose prevention centers (OPCs)) and services were delivered alongside other harm reduction services.

Community-based drug checking in the United States is largely based on the model developed by Canadian colleagues at BCCSU, ANKORS, and Substance. With support from technician trainers from the BCCSU, the Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA) began providing FTIR-based drug checking services in 2019, followed shortly by the Massachusetts Drug Supply Data Stream at Brandeis University and the AHOPE program at the Boston Public Health Commission. A small group of advocates, researchers, and leaders in the harm reduction field came together in Chicago in 2019 to form the Alliance for Collaborative Drug Checking (ACDC), an international brain trust dedicated to the global advancement and expansion of drug checking. ACDC now has over 600 members from more than 10 countries and hosts an annual learning summit featuring drug checking experts from around the world.

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Innovating for the future

The past five years have seen immense growth and expansion related to drug checking. Kykeon Analytics in Spain has started accepting mailed samples of drugs and has built their own FTIR library. The Substance program at the University of Victoria has pioneered using a tandem paper-spray mass spectrometer and FTIR approach, and are leaders in innovative approaches to data analysis, software and increasing access to drug checking. Brandeis University built StreetCheck, a data collection software made specifically for drug checking. The University of North Carolina’s StreetSafe program now offers secondary verification lab testing for over 22 programs across the United States. The Center for Forensic Research and Evaluation (CFSRE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other labs have joined DrugsData and UNC to provide secondary verification to other programs across the country and are beginning to provide quantification information to drug checking programs as well. These advancements and so many more are shared by experts in the field during the annual ACDC learning summit that takes place in May. For more information about the annual learning summit, email acdchecking@gmail.com.

Module One: History of Drug Checking

Table of contents

The Origins of Drug Checking

2010s and the beginning of FTIR

Innovating for the future

Related Resources

Previous Module

Introduction

Next Module

Module Two: Funding

Table of contents

The Origins of Drug Checking

2010s and the beginning of FTIR

Innovating for the future

Related Resources

Previous Module

Introduction

Next Module

Module Two: Funding

Cross-Contamination

Needs-Based Syringe Exchange

Community Advisory Board (CAB)

Drug Users Union

Sources

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Community Based Drug Checking

Cross-reactivity

Memorandum of Understanding

Immunoassay Strips

Limit of Detection (LOD)

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR)

Local Drug Supply

Overdose Data to Action

Opioid Settlement Dollars

Adulterant

Colorimetric Analysis