Moderator: Grant T. Baldwin, PhD, MPH, Director, Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Member, National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit Advisory Board

CE Certified By: AMA,AAFP,ACPE,ADA,ANCC,APA,MCHES,GA Bar,GA POST,NAADAC,NASW,NBCC

Unprecedented increases in opioid overdose deaths throughout the United States are largely driven by illicitly-made fentanyl (IMF) and other potent, rapid-acting synthetic opioids. Federal, state and community-based organizations are searching for pre-overdose interventions to avert poisonings involving IMF, but an effective technique has yet to be discovered. In this workshop, two teams of researchers will consider several evidence-based interventions.

Field-based fentanyl detection is being employed in several community-based settings, but there are little data on the validity of field-based testing modalities as well as an understanding of how testing could be scaled up. The first presentation team will reveal novel findings from a multi-site study (Baltimore, Boston and Providence) that tested the validity, practical implementation and likely uptake of three field-based methods of fentanyl checking: off-label use of fentanyl test strips (FTS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. They will share reflections from stakeholders on their interest in drug-checking services for improving consumer safety.

The second presentation team will reveal findings from the first scientific study in the United States to systematically measure behavioral outcomes associated with the use of FTS by people who inject drugs (PWID), in addition to describing how FTS can be used as a harm reduction tool. Topics will include self-efficacy, consumption patterns, injecting mechanics, product identification, product discernment by physical effects and overdose prevention. Findings on how PWID seek and exchange information on the Internet about IMF also will be presented. The implications of using FTS in public health practice as a novel approach to overdose prevention will be deliberated in the context of program integration and population-based approaches for delivering care to PWID.

UPON COMPLETION OF THIS COURSE, PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
- Describe the role of heroin, fentanyl and synthetic opioids in the U.S. overdose epidemic.
- Summarize cutting-edge research findings on drug checking for public health applications.
- Recognize the need to generate discussion to create novel solutions to address the national opioid overdose crisis.
- Describe changes in street opioid markets and the risks posed by market unpredictability.
- Explain findings on behavioral outcomes associated with the use of fentanyl test strips and implications for overdose prevention.
- Describe strategies to incorporate fentanyl test strips into existing overdose education and naloxone programs and other harm reduction efforts (e.g., syringe service programs).