A growing number of states are decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips, seeking to protect people who use drugs from unwitting exposure to the highly potent synthetic opioid ravaging the U.S. with overdose deaths
Fentanyl test strips sit atop magazines in the waiting area of Urban Kutz Barbershop in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 11, 2023. Owner Waverly Willis sets them out in his businesses, hoping to protect people in his community from overdosing on drugs they're unaware contain the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl. A growing number of states are legalizing the test strips, which are often labeled as illegal drug paraphernalia, in an effort to prevent overdose deaths.
Until this spring, use of the strips was technically illegal in Ohio. It has joined at least 20 other states whose lawmakers formally decriminalized the strips since Rhode Island became the first in 2018. Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Kentucky andas a low-cost means of helping prevent drug overdoses. They can detect fentanyl in cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and many other drugs — whether in pills, powders or injectables.
The strips can often be obtained from advocacy groups, local and state health departments, or purchased online.In Kansas, lawmakers debated until April whether to legalize the strips. But there was never any debate for Kansas mother Brandy Harris, who lost her 21-year-old son Sebastain Sheahan to a fentanyl overdose in April 2022. Addicted since age 13, he was first prescribed opioids after being hit by a truck.
“Fentanyl isn’t going to ask you if you’re a Democrat or a Republican before it kills you,” said Struzzi, who sponsored state legislation making test strips legal in January. In fact, prosecution for possessing the strips doesn’t appear to be occurring anywhere in the U.S., according to Jonathan Woodruff of the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association, which tracks drug laws nationwide. He said drug paraphernalia possession is a minor offense in most states and law enforcement may now be more attuned to the strips' lifesaving benefits.
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