Ashley Larnder - Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project

April 2021 Monthly Report

(Header photo by Jay Wallace.) In this blog post we discuss our April 2021 report and provide more information on how to interpret the results. The PDF report can be found at the end. Key findings: Fentanyl analogues found in 24% of opioid-down samples (13/54), including fluorofentanyl (7), carfentanil

Fentanyl Screening Is Not Drug Checking

Drug advisories that lack nuance and context, like the ones put out by Public Health, only serve to remind us of all the things governments could be doing but aren’t.

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March 2021 Monthly Report

Header photo by Jay Wallace. In this blog post we discuss our March 2021 report and provide more information on how to interpret the results. The PDF report can be found at the end. We would also like to announce that this month we moved to our new store-front location!

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February 2021 Monthly Report

Header photo by Jay Wallace. In this blog post we discuss our February 2021 report and provide more information on how to interpret the results. We are excited to present additional reporting of fentanyl, etizolam, heroin, and carfentanil concentrations through our collaboration with Dr. Chris Gill and the team at

Benzodiazepines, Etizolam and the Test Strips

We’ve been receiving a lot of questions lately about the use of benzodiazepine test strips at our service ... and no wonder, our January Report shows that benzodiazepines and related drugs were detected in 50% of opioid down samples last month. Here we will try to answer some of these

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January 2021 Monthly Report

Header photo by Jay Wallace. In this blog post we discuss our January 2021 report and provide more information on how to interpret the results. We are excited to announce the additional reporting of fentanyl, etizolam, heroin, and carfentanil concentrations through our collaboration with Dr. Chris Gill and his team

Not just a bad batch: a stable supply is a safer supply

Header photo by Jay Wallace. We continue to grieve alongside all those who have been impacted by the ongoing emergency that is the overdose crisis. The tremendous loss that continues to impact our communities is carried with us as we draw attention to the conclusions laid out in this post.

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December 2020 Monthly Report

Header photo by Jay Wallace. In this blog post we discuss our December 2020 report and provide more information on how to interpret the results. We are also excited to announce the additional reporting of fentanyl concentrations through our collaboration with Dr. Chris Gill and his team at Vancouver Island

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November 2020 Monthly Report

Header photo by Jay Wallace. In this blog post we discuss our November 2020 report and provide more information on how to interpret the results. We are also excited to announce our collaboration with Vancouver Island University and their paper spray mass spectrometer. The PDF report can be found at

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October 2020 Monthly Report

Header photo by Jay Wallace. In this blog post we discuss our October 2020 report and provide more information on how to interpret the results as well as additional information on common cutting agents. The PDF report can be found at the end. Insight for the October 2020 Monthly Report

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September 2020 Monthly Report

Header photo by Jay Wallace. Welcome to the first release of our monthly reports! We hope to increase our information sharing with the community to give more regular updates about what we are finding in the current drug supply. These reports are designed to give an overview of what is

What is needed for implementing drug checking services in the context of the overdose crisis?

Ever wonder how drug checking fits into the overall scope of the overdose crisis? Curious what people think about drug checking? Check out this journal article written by our project leads and community partners to explore drug checking considerations from the perspective of potential service users. This study interviewed 27

Insider perspective: what it looks like to operate our drug checking service

For our first blog post, we would like to share project member Ashley Larnder's first-hand perspective of being a technician as she stepped into a previously unknown world of harm reduction and drug checking. Our blog aims to offer knowledge straight from the source of our project while showcasing the