ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2019
Trusting the source: The potential role of drug dealers in reducing drug-related harms via drug checking.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 115 citations in OpenAlex.
- Drug checking services for people who use drugs: a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Pooled it
- What About Drug Checking? Systematic Review and Netnographic Analysis of Social Media.Current neuropharmacology · 2020Pooled it
- Prevalence and correlates of fentanyl test strip use among people who use drugs in Rhode Island.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Trial
- Drug sellers' use of a drug checking service amid the overdose crisis in British Columbia, Canada.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Risk reduction behaviours following the detection of unexpected drugs through community drug checking: a cross-sectional study.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- How population-level drug supply data are integrated into health outcomes research: a scoping review.Epidemiologic reviews · 2026Article
- Stable patterns, shifting risks: the impact of British Columbia's decriminalization and recriminalization policies on drug use behaviours.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- 'It'd Be Nice to Know if You're About to Have Drain Cleaner': A Qualitative Study of Preferred Drug Checking Service Features to Inform the Design of CheQpoint, Queensland's First Fixed-Site Drug Checking Service.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Impact of having a regular drug dealer on obtaining drug checking results consistent with expectations during a drug toxicity crisis in a Canadian setting.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Understanding Drug and Alcohol Staff Perspectives on the Barriers and Facilitators to Drug Checking: A Qualitative Study.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Highlighting variability in fentanyl test strip instructions using thematic content analysis.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Self-reported pathways through which illicitly manufactured fentanyl enters the stimulant supply: Novel insights from people incarcerated for drug manufacturing and distribution.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2025Article
- Utilization of drug checking services in Austria: a cross-sectional online survey.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Protective Behavioral Strategies for Psychedelic Use: A Mini Review of the Evidence.Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- "Before medically advised" departure from hospital and subsequent drug overdose: a population-based cohort study.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Article
- "If everyone knew about this, how many lives could we save?": Do drug suppliers have a role in reducing overdose risk?Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2024Article
- Preventing overdoses involving stimulants: the POINTS study protocol.BMC public health · 2024Article
- "Expected to happen": perspectives on post-release overdose from recently incarcerated people with opioid use disorder.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Barriers to, and Facilitators of, Checking Drugs for Adulterants in the Era of Fentanyl and Xylazine: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Navigating the nexus between British Columbia's public consumption and decriminalization policies of illegal drugs.Health research policy and systems · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesDrug checking technologies (DCTs) have been implemented as a response to the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic. We examined the level of trust people who use drugs (PWUD) have in their drug dealers as well as their perspectives on the potential for drug dealers to use DCTs to provide knowledge of drug contents to their customers.
methodsWe conducted one-to-one qualitative semi-structured interviews with 20 PWUD in Vancouver, Canada's Downtown Eastside. Participants were purposively recruited from ongoing cohort studies of PWUD and were required to currently be using stimulants and/or opioids.
resultsMost participants discussed having a high level of trust for their drug dealers based on length of relationships, drug supply consistencies, and communication. Given this, participants did not identify drug checking as a priority. However, participants discussed a lower level of trust when buying drugs from an unfamiliar source. Participants also discussed how DCTs would provide knowledge to drug dealers about drug contents and how communicating test results to customers could be a risk reduction measure. Participants described privacy concerns that drug dealers might experience as well as the lack of concern that some drug dealers have about their drug supply.
conclusionsFuture drug checking programming should consider ways to engage drug dealers to test their supplies and develop communication strategies to more accurately inform PWUD of drug contents and avert risks associated with using them. Additionally, drug policies that address the effects of criminalization should be considered to lessen potential barriers to DCT use by drug dealers.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.