Bars, Eateries Give Out Fentanyl Test Strips: 'This Will Save Lives'

NEW YORK — As fentanyl continues to cut a deadly swath nationwide, contributing to a dramatic uptick in deaths during the pandemic, some restaurant and bar owners are putting fentanyl testing strips in bathrooms to help save lives.

According to a report by Reuters, fentanyl-testing strips are becoming more common in bars, restaurants and venues in places including New York, California, and Philadelphia as a nation struggles to grapple with the grim escalating death toll.

In April, the New York State Department of Health released a report indicating that 2020 was the deadliest year for overdoses in history

Since 2015, fentanyl has escalated opioid-addiction related deaths by more than 800 percent according to figures compiled by Families Against Fentanyl, a national organization that is fighting to get the synthetic opioid listed as a weapon of mass destruction, Patch reported.

Fentanyl has contributed to nearly 500,000 U.S. opioid overdose deaths over two decades, with the COVID-19 pandemic worsening the situation. Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine, Reuters said.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics indicated that there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5 percent from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before.

The data also indicates that estimated overdose deaths from opioids increased to 75,673 in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, up from 56,064 the year before. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine also increased in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, the CDC said.

Some, however, do not support the distribution of test strips, stating that the availability opens the door for drug use; some states consider them illegal drug paraphernalia, the Reuters report said.

Locally, health officials are lauding the idea of the testing strips. "This is another harm reduction approach to battling overdose," said Mark Epley, president and CEO of the Seafield Center, a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Westhampton Beach:. "Agree or disagree, this will save lives. It is like the needle exchange program or eliminating the requirements for a prescription for Naloxone. It will save lives."

And, said Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, president and chief executive officer of the Family and Children's Association in Mineola: "It's critical. They need to be everywhere, along with Naloxone kits and prevention messages."

However, Reynolds maintains that there needs to be a change in how deaths due to fentanyl are perceived, especially because many who die from fentanyl are not aware it has been laced into the drugs they are taking.

In August, a deadly batch of fentanyl-laced cocaine led to a rash of eight overdoses and six deaths on the North Fork and Shelter Island over eight days.

"Fentanyl is killing people left and right and I wonder why we keep calling these 'overdoses,'" Reynolds said. "They are poisonings, plain and simple. Fentanyl isn't anyone's drug of choice and most victims are encountering the drug after it's been sprinkled into a bag of heroin or pressed into a fake pill. When we see these as poisonings, the charge becomes clear: identify the poison via test strips, distribute the antidote (Naloxone) and shut down those making and distributing the poison via law enforcement."

He added: "Once we've kept people alive long enough to engage them in a conversation about addiction treatment, let's work with them to get well and enlist their help in saving another generation."