Drugs, Habits and Social Policy: Volume 23 Issue 3

Guest editorial

Raoul Pieter Joost Koning, Nicolas Van der Linden, Daan van der Gouwe, Mireia Ventura, Fiona Measham

What is drug checking, anyway?

Monica J. Barratt, Fiona Measham

The recent influx of interest in and the changing status of drug checking has led us to reconsider some fundamental questions about drug checking. This commentary aims to define…

Who uses drug checking services? Assessing uptake and outcomes at English festivals in 2018

Fiona Measham, Henry Simmons

This study aims to assess service user characteristics, uptake and outcomes for drug checking services offered to over 250,000 English festival-goers in summer 2018 and to compare…

Drug checking in New Zealand: the 2020 and 2021 drug and substance checking legislation acts

Fiona Hutton

This paper aims to explore the context and implications of the New Zealand Drug and Substance Drug Checking Acts 2020 and 2021.

Size matters: comparing the MDMA content and weight of ecstasy tablets submitted to European drug checking services in 2012–2021

Ruben Quirinus Vrolijk, Fiona Measham, Adrià Quesada, Anton Luf, Dominique Schori, Sarah Radley, Dean Acreman, Josie Smith, Marko Verdenik, Daniel Martins, Mar Cunha, Carlos J. Paulos, Ilaria Fineschi Piccinin, Enrico Gerace, Alexandra Karden, Raoul Pieter Joost Koning, Laura Alexandra Smit-Rigter, Mireia Ventura

The 3,4-methylenedioxymetamphetamine (MDMA) content in ecstasy tablets has increased enormously throughout Europe across the past decade. This study aims to determine whether this…

A distributed model to expand the reach of drug checking

Bruce Wallace, Lea Gozdzialski, Abdelhakim Qbaich, Azam Shafiul, Piotr Burek, Abby Hutchison, Taylor Teal, Rebecca Louw, Collin Kielty, Derek Robinson, Belaid Moa, Margaret-Anne Storey, Chris Gill, Dennis Hore

While there is increasing interest in implementing drug checking within overdose prevention, we must also consider how to scale-up these responses so that they have significant…

Drug use patterns, harm reduction strategies and use of drug checking services in boom festival patrons

Helena Valente, Daniel Martins, Marta Pinto, José Luis Fernandes, Monica J. Barratt

Recent studies have shown that people who attend electronic dance music events and use drug checking services (DCS) are a predominantly white male, highly educated middle-class…

Psychoactive substance use and drug checking practices among participants at electronic dance music events in Ukraine

Vyacheslav Kushakov, Vira Dvoriak, Olga Morozova, Lyu Azbel, Galyna Sergienko

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has previously examined the use of psychoactive substances (PASs) at electronic dance music (EDM) events in Ukraine. Addressing…

Community-led guerrilla drug checking in response to deaths from adulterated MDMA in Victoria, Australia

Monica J. Barratt, Stephen J. Bright, Ash R. Blackwell

Following deaths and hospitalisations in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, related to the unwitting consumption of a combination of 25C-NBOMe and 4-FA, a community-led unauthorised…

Échele Cabeza as a harm reduction project and activist movement in Colombia

Mauro Díaz Moreno, Nathalia Alarcón Ayala, Yarelix Estrada, Vannesa Morris, Julián Quintero

The purpose of this paper is to present the results and context of the drug checking service (DCS) performed by the harm reduction project Échele Cabeza (EC) in Colombia.

Substance residue analysis as an alternative to drug checking? Traces from drug paraphernalia as a source for laboratory analysis

Teemu Kaskela, Ronja Järvelin, Janne Nahkuri, Teemu Gunnar, Aino Kankaanpää, Anna Pelander, Miina Kajos

Drug checking is a popular method to reduce risks of drug use. In many countries, including Finland, legislation restricts implementing drug checking. The aim of this study was to…

Challenges, policy and politics in drug checking: reflections of the TEDItorial team

Nicolas Van der Linden, Raoul Pieter Joost Koning, Daan van der Gouwe, Mireia Ventura, Fiona Measham

The purpose of this paper is to present some of the continued resistance and challenges faced by drug checking services (DCS) and review how the existing literature and the…