What is Drug Checking
Drug checking is a quick, free and confidential way to learn more about what is in your drugs. Drug checking technicians can analyse your sample using FTIR and test strips and help answer questions you may have about your results.
Drug checking services are offered across BC in a number of locations. Find a service
What happens at a drug check?
Only a small sample, about the size of half a matchstick head, is needed for analysis. Analysis results are ready in about five to ten minutes. Service is quick, free and confidential.
Important things to remember
Drug checking can tell you a lot about what is in a drug sample, but it cannot tell you everything.
All drug-checking technologies have limitations. To get the best analysis, drug-checking services use more than one technology to make the most of each technology’s strengths.
Be aware that the FTIR and test strips may occasionally miss fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, or other harmful substances. When you get your drugs checked, the technician can explain your results and what might be missed.
Drug checking can:
✅ Identify up to 4–5 substances that may be present in a sample
✅ Estimate relative proportions of some substances in a sample
✅ Determine whether a sample contains fentanyl and some fentanyl analogues
✅ Determine whether a sample contains benzodiazepines and some benzo analogues
✅ Help reduce risk by providing information about what is actually in a substance, allowing people to make better-informed decisions and use more safely.
Drug checking cannot:
❌ Detect substances present in small amounts (less than about 5%) using the FTIR
❌ Determine the exact percentages of what is in a sample
❌ Detect new or unknown substances that are not in our reference database
❌ Reliably distinguish between specific substances with a similar chemical make-up (e.g. 2C- family, fentanyl analogues)
❌ Determine if the whole drug intended for use is free of adulterants or contaminants.
❌ Guarantee that a drug is safe to use.
Ways to stay safe
➡️ Have a buddy or use at an Overdose Prevention Site if available.
➡️ Start low, go slow.
➡️ Use one drug at a time.
➡️ Have an overdose plan.
➡️ Carry naloxone.
➡️ Be aware of your health and tolerance.
➡️ If you choose not to use your drugs after you get them checked, the technician can safely dispose of them at the testing site.
Find more harm-reduction information at Toward the Heart.
