ArticleHarm reduction journal2020
Evaluating networked drug checking services in Toronto, Ontario: study protocol and rationale.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Drug checking services for people who use drugs: a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Street drug monitoring with networked spectrometers powered by machine learning: a pilot study in Ontario, Canada.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Psychedelic Drug Checking: Analytical and Strategic Challenges in Harm Reduction for Classic Psychedelics.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2026Review
- Xylazine abuse, the growing risk: A review of its effects, upsurge use and associated fatalities in the USA and Puerto Rico.Journal of forensic and legal medicine · 2024Review
- An individual-based dynamic model to assess interventions to mitigate opioid overdose risk.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- How do we understand the value of drug checking as a component of harm reduction services? A qualitative exploration of client and provider perspectives.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Implementation opportunities and challenges to piloting a community-based drug-checking intervention for sexual and gender minority men in Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study.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
- Considerations for Purchasing Drug Checking Technologies: Perspectives from Toronto's Drug Checking Service.International journal of environmental research and public health · 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
- Insights from Drug Checking Programs: Practicing Bootstrap Public Health Whilst Tailoring to Local Drug User Needs.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Co-designing drug alerts for health and community workers for an emerging early warning system in Victoria, Australia.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- A Realist Review of How Community-Based Drug Checking Services Could Be Designed and Implemented to Promote Engagement of People Who Use Drugs.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Diverse psychotropic substances detected in drug and drug administration equipment samples submitted to drug checking services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 2019-April 2020.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- Xylazine detected in unregulated opioids and drug administration equipment in Toronto, Canada: clinical and social implications.Harm reduction journal · 2021Article
- The Ontario Integrated Supervised Injection Services Cohort Study of People Who Inject Drugs in Toronto, Canada (OiSIS-Toronto): Cohort Profile.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2021Article
- The potential impacts of community drug checking within the overdose crisis: qualitative study exploring the perspective of prospective service users.BMC public health · 2021Article
- What is needed for implementing drug checking services in the context of the overdose crisis? A qualitative study to explore perspectives of potential service users.Harm reduction journal · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe increasing incidence of fatal opioid overdose is a public health crisis in Canada. Given growing consensus that this crisis is related to the presence of highly potent opioid adulterants (e.g., fentanyl) in the unregulated drug supply, drug checking services (DCS) have emerged as part of a comprehensive approach to overdose prevention. In Canada's largest city, Toronto, a network of DCS launched in 2019 to prevent overdose and overdose-related risk behaviors. This network employs mass spectrometry technologies, with intake sites co-located with supervised consumption services (SCS) at three frontline harm reduction agencies. The protocol and rationale for assessing the impact of this multi-site DCS network in Toronto is described herein. The aims of this study are to (1) evaluate the impact of DCS access on changes in and factors influencing overdose and related risk behaviors, (2) investigate the perceived capacity of DCS to prevent overdose, and (3) identify composition (qualitative and quantitative) trends in Toronto's unregulated drug supply.
methodsWe will use a parallel-mixed-methods design with complementary data sources (including data from chemical analysis of drug samples, quantitative intake and post-test surveys, SCS, coroners, paramedic services, and qualitative interviews), followed by a meta-inference process wherein results from analyses are synthesized.
resultsWhereas most DCS globally target "recreational drug users," in Toronto, this networked DCS will primarily target marginalized people who use drugs accessing frontline services, many of whom use drugs regularly and by injection. This evolution in the application of DCS poses important questions that have not yet been explored, including optimal service delivery models and technologies, as well as unique barriers for this population. Increasing information on the unregulated drug supply may modify the risk environment for this population of people who use drugs.
conclusionsThis study addresses evidence gaps on the emerging continuum of overdose prevention responses and will generate critical evidence on a novel approach to reducing the ongoing high incidence of drug-related morbidity and mortality in Canada and elsewhere.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.