Bring quality drug checking services to your community
We are an initiative of Remedy Alliance / For The People
We help harm reduction organizations start and run drug checking services
Drug checking is a powerful practice that can help us reduce the harms created by prohibition and racialized drug policy. We support direct-service harm reduction organizations that have meaningful involvement and leadership by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and people who use drugs (PWUD).
What is drug checking?
When you purchase a medication like Ibuprofen from a pharmacy, you can be certain that what you purchase is truly Ibuprofen. You’ll get guidelines that tell you how to consume the drug and notify you of potential risks so you can take it safely.
That’s because over the counter medication is legal and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Today street drugs are criminalized which pushes them underground where there is no regulation. Because of this, drugs often contain multiple unexpected substances.
For example, someone purchases what they believe to be heroin. Upon testing, we might find it is a combination of fentanyl, heroin, caffeine, and xylazine.
We can then provide harm reduction strategies that are specific to the results and the individuals overall health and wellness goals.
Drug checking helps people who use drugs test their substances to understand what is in them.
By knowing what is in their drugs, they can make informed decisions to meet their health and wellness goals.
How to start a drug checking service
While you’re setting up your service, we provide technical assistance from start to finish. Here’s a snapshot of the process you’ll go through:
Complete pre-implementation work
Work with your community and stakeholders to plan your drug checking service and acquire funding.
Set up your drug checking site
Purchase a drug checking instrument, arrange secondary verification testing with a lab, and identify a technician.
Train the technician
In person trainingÂ
The technician will have 3 days of in-person work with local drug samples. They will then practice scanning and analyzing drug samples.Â
Ongoing practice
The technician will practice running tests on your site’s drug checking instrument with remote technical assistance from a more experienced technician. Samples will also be sent to a second lab for secondary testing to help the technician assess their accuracy.Â
Provide testing
When the training phase is completed and the technician has achieved proficiency, technicians can begin providing drug checking services directly to participants, without supervision. Technicians have access to a TA Slack channel and monthly technician calls to support them, and are encouraged to engage with the larger drug checking community for continuing education and learning.
Ready to bring drug checking to your community?
Work with us
We’re here to help you start and run your service. Here’s a few ways that we can work together:
Implementation support
We can help guide you through all steps of setting up your own service
Technical assistance
Once your service is up and running, we can help you troubleshoot issues and remove barriers to running your service
Technician training
Our experienced technicians provide training for new drug checkers
Knowledge sharing
We provide toolkits, resources, materials to help you start and run your service
Building a network
Get connected with a broader network of drug checking technicians and supporters
Get started
Just send us a note and we’ll get you connected with the right people and information.
We are a small team and prioritize community based organizations, syringe service programs, and organizations that are led by or have meaningful involvement by BIPOC and PWUD.
Once you send us a message, please give us 3-4 business days to respond.
Tools to help you start your service
We are a team of harm reductionists, organizers, researchers, and people who use drugs.
Our aims
Increase access to technology and knowledge through community training and technical assistance.
Destigmatize drugs by offering person-centered services that can be accessed by people who use all drugs.
Build equity and justice by cultivating expertise among those most impacted: people who use drugs and BIPOC communities.
Support communities of drug checking technicians across the US and the world.
Work towards a world with a safer drug supply by starting with drug checking
Shift drug chemistry away from criminalization and toward choice, equity, and justice.