On Nov. 15 in Idlewild Park, Darcy Patterson re-stocked a box with harm-reduction supplies for the taking, including Narcan—an antidote to opioid overdoses—and test strips for fentanyl and xylazine.
Patterson is a registered nurse, as well as a grieving mother who lost her daughter to a heroin overdose, and the administrator for Wake Up Nevada. (See this issue’s Guest Comment for her perspective on distributing and destigmatizing Narcan.) She distributes approximately 200 test strips per week.
It’s become common for street drugs—including cocaine or pressed pills meant to look like Xanax, Adderall or other prescription medications—to be cut with fentanyl. Xylazine, a large-animal tranquilizer, is also showing up in street drugs. Patterson said she’s particularly alarmed by xylazine, as Narcan cannot reduce an overdose.
Testing street drugs for these two contaminants is becoming a common practice. Patterson said that students often ask her for test strips for raves, concerts and parties.
On Nov. 3, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen announced she has signed onto the bipartisan Fentanyl Safe Testing and Overdose Prevention Act, which would ensure that states cannot prohibit fentanyl and xylazene test strips under the Controlled Substances Act, which was passed in 1970 and categorizes test strips as illegal paraphernalia.
For a list of locations where test strips are distributed for free in Reno and other Nevada cities, visit the Nevada State Opioid Response website.
—Kris Vagner