Submission
| Title: | Community drug checking in a restrictive regulatory environment: recovery of drugs from used fentanyl test strips |
| Presenter: | Marya Lieberman |
| Institution: | University of Notre Dame |
| Authors: | Heather Whitehead,1 Warnakulasuriya Thilini Hirudini Fernando,1 Joanne Cogdell,2 and Marya Lieberman1 (mlieberm@nd.edu) 1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 2) Naxos Neighbors LLC, South Bend, IN |
Abstract
| Background/Significance/Rationale: | The rise in opioid overdose deaths across Indiana highlights the importance of monitoring the drug supply at the community level. There are significant barriers, such as regulations that prevent people from bringing illicit drugs to clinics for drug checking. SAMHSA and CDC have both recommended wider use of immunoassay test strips for drug checking, and in 2022, over 8 million fentanyl test strips were sold to harm reduction organizations. |
| Methods: | Methods: This poster describes detection of drugs from used fentanyl test strips. The strips were used to test a solution containing twenty-one drugs (including fentanyl) at 5000 ng/mL levels. All strips gave positive results for fentanyl. The used strips were dried, stored at room temperature for a week to simulate normal delays in getting samples to the lab, and soaked in a water/methanol solution to recover residual drugs from the strips. The solutions were then analyzed by tandem mass spectroscopy using a validated protocol. |
| Results/Findings: | Results/Findings: All 21 drugs were recovered in quantifiable amounts from three different batches of test strips. Several drugs showed partial degradation during storage (eg, heroin to 6-monoacetylmorphine). |
| Conclusions/Discussion: | Used fentanyl test strips contain a tremendous amount of information about the drug supply that is literally being thrown away in the trash. This method of drug checking could be implemented in restrictive regulatory environments. |
| Translational/Human Health Impact: | This project was funded through the CTSI Trailblazer program in August of 2023. Naxos Neighbors will collaborate with harm reduction and substance use treatment centers to train people who use drugs and people recently in recovery to use fentanyl, benzodiazepine, and xylazine test strips at home. We will evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to the test strips to see if our training process is effective. Participants will be asked to return their used FTS for mass spec analysis, with anonymous results from the test strips and the LCMS analysis shared with stakeholders. We would ultimately like to expand this program to cover the other 83 counties in Indiana that restrict drug checking at clinical sites. |
