ArticleBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2020
City checking: Piloting the UK's first community-based drug safety testing (drug checking) service in 2 city centres.
Article in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 89 citations in OpenAlex.
- Drug checking services for people who use drugs: a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Risk communication about high-dose MDMA: Impact of a hypothetical drug alert on future MDMA use.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Trial
- Risk reduction behaviours following the detection of unexpected drugs through community drug checking: a cross-sectional study.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Presence of 4‑Hydroxy‑ACS omega · 2026Article
- From trash to results: shortcomings and benefits of paraphernalia-based drug checking in Finland.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Evaluation of implementing drug checking services for anabolic androgenic steroids in Switzerland: a pilot study.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Patterns of Acute Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate Harms Requiring Ambulance Attendance: Should Greater Focus Be on Regional Areas?Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Implementing community drug checking in smaller urban communities: a qualitative study exploring contextual factors to consider.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- A qualitative study of benzodiazepine/z-drug and opioid co-use patterns and overdose risk.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- An implementation science study of a campus-based drug checking service at a Canadian university.PloS one · 2025Article
- "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
- Beyond a spec: assessing heterogeneity in the unregulated opioid supply.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Planning and implementing community-based drug checking services in Scotland: a qualitative exploration using the consolidated framework for implementation research.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2024Article
- Comment on Rose et al.: the need for responsible collection and reporting of demographic data in drug checking research.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- A qualitative assessment of key considerations for drug checking service implementation.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Contextual factors affecting the implementation of drug checking for harm reduction: a scoping literature review from a North American perspective.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- 'It's not going to be a one size fits all': a qualitative exploration of the potential utility of three drug checking service models in Scotland.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Point-of-care community drug checking technologies: an insider look at the scientific principles and practical considerations.Harm reduction journal · 2023Review
- Handheld Raman Spectroscopy in the First UK Home Office Licensed Pharmacist-Led Community Drug Checking Service.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsTo explore the feasibility of delivering community-based drug safety testing (drug checking), to trial service design characteristics and to compare with festival-based testing.
methodsIn total, 171 substances of concern were submitted on 5 dates at 3 venues in 2 UK cities and tested using up to 6 analytical techniques. Test results and harm reduction advice were distributed directly to over 200 service users through 144 tailored healthcare consultations, to stakeholders, and through early warning systems, media and social media alerts.
resultsThe 171 samples were submitted and identified as MDMA (43.3%), cocaine (12.9%), ketamine (12.9%), various psychedelics submitted by students, and heroin and a synthetic cannabinoid submitted by rough sleeping communities, with 76% of samples' test results as expected. The 144 primary service users identified as 91.7% white, 68.1% male, with an average age of 26.7 years. Reported harm reduction intentions included alerting friends and acquaintances (37.5%), being more careful mixing that substance (35.4%), lowered dosage (27.8%), disposal of further substances (6.9%) and additionally 2.8% handed over further substances for verified destruction.
conclusionCommunity-based drug safety testing (drug checking) was piloted for the first time in the UK-within a drugs service, a community centre and a church-with consideration given to meso-level operational feasibility and micro-level behavioural outcomes. Service design characteristics such as venue, day of week, prior publicity, service provider, and direct and indirect dissemination of results all may impact on outcomes. Future studies should consider cost-benefit analyses of community and event-based testing and context-appropriate macro, meso and micro-level evaluations.
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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.