What is drug content monitoring?
Drug content monitoring is the examination of the contents of drugs from the illegal drug supply. It helps identify drug contamination and gathers information for people who use drugs to better understand what they might be taking and make more informed decisions.
Drug content monitoring can inform harm reduction services, supports and policies, which can help reduce overdose deaths and other harms associated with drug use. It is especially important as we are seeing increasing contamination of drugs on the illegal market with fentanyl, benzodiazepines and other substances, with an associated increase in health harms.
A better understanding of the contents of drugs from the unregulated drug supply is needed to plan for and improve responses such as the provision of observed consumption (injection or inhalation) sites, the distribution of harm reduction supplies (needles, pipes, naloxone kits), building awareness among first responders and harm reduction messaging.
How Drug Content Monitoring Is Done
One way to monitor drug contents is to test drug samples through drug checking. This checking provides information about substances that are and are not present in the sample, which empowers people who use drugs to make informed decisions. The national Drug Checking Working Group was founded in 2015. The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) acts as secretariat for the group.
Another method of drug monitoring is urine toxicology screening of people after they have used drugs. The urinalysis results are compared with reports by people of what they think they used. The Community Urinalysis and Self-Report Project aims to build the capacity of harm reduction sites across Canada to generate information for local service delivery as well as for monitoring national substance use trends.
Drug Checking Office Hours
CCSA is pleased to host Drug Checking Office Hours — virtual, one-hour, drop-in calls where experts from the National Drug Checking Working Group will provide guidance, answer questions and share resources on drug checking in Canada.
Sign up to join us on Microsoft Teams on the second Tuesday of each month from 1 to 2 p.m. ET for direct access to experts in policy, research, community engagement, technical support, training and more. You can drop in on as many monthly calls as you like!
Get to know our experts listed below and review the meeting schedule.
Schedule
- Tuesday, January 21: Courtney, Justine, Nazlee (English and French)
- Tuesday, February 11: Chris, Jen, Mia and Will (English)
- Tuesday, March 11: Antoine, Jean-Philippe and Justine (French)
- Tuesday, April 8: David, Thomas and Will (English)
- Tuesday, May 13: Courtney, Mia and Jean-Philippe (English and French)
- Tuesday, June 10: Chris, David and Nazlee (English)
- Tuesday, July 8: Courtney, Jen and Justine (English and French)
- Tuesday, August 12: Chris, Nazlee and Thomas (English)
- Tuesday, September 9: Antoine, Jean-Philippe and Justine (French)
- Tuesday, October 14: David, Thomas and Mia (English)
- Wednesday, November 12: Lauren, Nazlee and Jean-Philippe (English and French)
- Tuesday, December 9: Jen, Will and Courtney (English)
Meet the Drug Checking Office Hours Experts
Get to know our experts listed below.
Antoine Marcheterre (he/him)
Courtney Harrop (she/her)
David Byres (he/they)
Chris Gill (he/him)
Jean-Philippe Bergeron (he/him)
Jen Angelucci (she/her)
Justine Bizier (she/her/they/them)
Lauren Airth (she/her)
Mia Pohl (they/them)
Nazlee Maghsoudi (she/her)
Thomas Laughton (he/him)
Will McLellan (he/him)
Drug Checking Working Group
CCSA acts as secretariat for the national Drug Checking Working Group. Formed in 2015, the group provides a nationwide platform for communication and learning among drug checking initiatives as technologies evolve, service models are being tested and new jurisdictions take up drug checking.
The Drug Checking Working Group is made up of service providers, researchers and policy makers interested in developing, implementing and scaling up harm reduction services across Canada. Members also include representatives from health authorities, provincial and municipal governments, and Health Canada. The working group currently includes representatives from services in British Columbia, the Yukon, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
The Drug Checking Working Group has inspired and enabled several key initiatives and collaborations, and regularly contributes information to the Canadian Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use. It continues to improve coordination and collaboration among drug checking services and helps develop and sustain existing and new services across Canada.
