The machine, which is straightforward to use after a short training session, can detect fentanyl, carfentanil, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and benzodiazepines.

Drug Enforcement Tech

Posted by AI on 2025-08-25 09:44:14 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-08-26 18:12:51

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Users will be able to test their drugs anonymously, with results available within 30 seconds. The equipment has already been used in Europe and Australia, and is currently being tested at a safe injection site in Boston, but the SHCHC site will be the first to use it in North America. The device, which costs about $30,000, will be funded through private and public donations. The centre hopes to raise enough money to purchase three of them, allowing staff to move the machines to different locations within the facility as needed.

Christine Boyd, a nurse and program manager for the SHCHC, said the machine offers people a chance to make informed decisions about the substances they consume.

> It's giving them the ability to choose whether or not they want to proceed with using whatever drug they've obtained, with information that's timely and reliable,< she said.

Boyd, who has been a nurse for 23 years, called the technology a potential game-changer that could prevent deaths and help users make informed decisions at the time they are consuming drugs.

>I think it's going to be a real opportunity to prevent overdose here, and hopefully elsewhere too, once we show that it can be done safely and it can save lives, the two most important things,< Boyd said.

Supervised injection sites are designed to provide users with clean needles, medical supervision and other services to help reduce the risk of overdose and transmission of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C. Shannon Hanson, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary and researcher who specializes in drug policy, said drug testing technologies have the potential to save lives, but also carry the risk of unintended consequences.

>If drugs are tested and confirmed to be safe, there is a risk that users may feel empowered to take more at once, or use alone where they might not have otherwise,< Hanson said.

However, Hanson said that overall, drug checking technologies are a good thing and deserve further study and funding.

>I'm very much in favour of them being available, and for every opportunity to get people who use drugs and front-line workers trained in their use, so we can gather more information and determine what the impact is, or might be, on both safety and behaviour,< Hanson said in an email.

The SHCHC has had a supervised injection site since 2003, and has recorded more than 220,000 injections on site without a single overdose death. The new testing technology will be used at the facility in the coming weeks, as staff continue to gather support and funding for the initiative. The centre's goal is to purchase three machines, which will cost $90,000 in total.

While advocates hope the machines will be lifesavers, others have questioned whether the investment is worthwhile. Joel Harden, Ottawa councillor and former addiction and mental health worker, said he supports the initiative, but worries that not enough is being done to tackle the crisis at its source.

>I'm supportive of anything that can help people who use drugs make informed decisions and prevent overdoses, but we also have to decriminalize these substances, and provide affordable, evidence-based treatment for those who want it, so that they don't have to die or end up in prison cells to get it,< Harden said in a statement to CBC News.

The supervised injection site is located in one of Ottawa's most gentrified neighbourhoods, near the University of Ottawa and Parliament Hill. The area has seen an increase in overdoses in recent years, with fentanyl present in many street drugs in the city. Experts say fentanyl is driving the increase in overdose deaths in Canada, with more than 9,000 deaths across the country since 2016. Ottawa Public Health has reported 17 drug overdose deaths this year, and five so far in December. While the arrival of the testing technology is welcome news, the need is increasingly urgent, advocates say.

>We're very much at the centre of the overdose crisis right now, unfortunately, and we need to do anything we can to save lives,< Boyd said.

The Spectralife Mass Spectrometer, produced by Canadian company Spectralife Sciences Inc., will be used in the initiative. The president of the company, Jeff Whiting, said the company is working to make the machines as affordable as possible so that more organizations can purchase them and help reduce the number of overdose deaths in Canada.

>We're excited that our technology can play a role in breaking the cycle of overdose, and giving an opportunity for a second chance at life,< Whiting said in a statement.

The initiative in Ottawa will

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