Piotr Burek - Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project

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

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.

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