Pubdate: Fri, 01 Sep 2017
Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Metro
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Ottawa
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4032
Author: Kieran Delamont
Page: A1

SUPERVISED INJECTION SITE GETS TECH BOOST

Funding set for advanced drug-testing system

The planned supervised injection site at the Sandy Hill Community
Health Centre will include world-class drug-testing technology.

With funding from the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the
program will be able to operate a mass spectrometry machine, which can
determine the chemical makeup of users' drugs, Lynne Leonard of the
Ontario HIV Treatment Network announced Thursday.

Drug-testing services are themselves rare, and it is even rarer for
harm-reduction organizations to offer testing as technically advanced
as mass spectrometry. The system at Sandy Hill will be the first of
its kind in Ontario.

Typically, drug-testing services like the TRIP! Project in Toronto
rely on what is called reagent testing, which involves mixing drugs
with a solution that can identify substances based on the colours
produced by chemical reactions.

Leonard made the announcement at a demonstration in front of city hall
on Thursday morning, in which harm-reduction advocates and drug users
gathered to protest inaction on the part of various levels of
government and to remember the people who have died of overdoses in
recent months.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt