ArticleEuropean addiction research2021
Drug Checking and Its Potential Impact on Substance Use.
Article in European addiction research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Preventive Interventions for Young Adults in Nightlife: Coproduction for a Systematic Literature Assessment Followed by a Stakeholder Dialogue Process.European addiction research · 2021Pooled it
- Drug sellers' use of a drug checking service amid the overdose crisis in British Columbia, Canada.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Willingness to use a drug checking service for cannabis and cannabis-based products: results from an online survey of people who regularly use cannabis in France.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Substance Checking Outreach and PrEP Engagement (SCOPE) Study: protocol for a non-randomised clinical trialBMJ open · 2025Article
- "You have to love the party setting": an ethnography of the blurred lines between roles and experiential knowledge in a French harm reduction collective working in the party setting.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Utilization of drug checking services in Austria: a cross-sectional online survey.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Enhancing drug checking services for supply monitoring: perspectives on implementation in syringe service programs in the USA.Harm reduction journal · 2024Review
- 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
- Drug checking in the fentanyl era: Utilization and interest among people who inject drugs in San Diego, California.The International journal on drug policy · 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
- 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
- Challenges in Drug Surveillance: Strengthening the Analysis of New Psychoactive Substances by Harmonizing Drug Checking Services in Proficiency Testing.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Challenges for drug checking services in Scotland: a qualitative exploration of police perceptions.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- 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
- No party, no drugs? Use of stimulants, dissociative drugs, and GHB/GBL during the early COVID-19 pandemic.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- Invited Commentary: Drug Checking for Novel Insights Into the Unregulated Drug Supply.American journal of epidemiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesDrug checking as a tool for harm reduction is offered in certain cities throughout Europe, the USA, and Australia, but in general, it is internationally still scarcely available and controversially discussed. This study aimed at investigating the potential impact of a drug-checking offer on Berlin nightlife attendees' illicit drug use and at identifying the encouraging and discouraging factors for using or refraining from such an offer.
methodsUsing an online questionnaire, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in a Berlin party scene. A total of 719 people participated in the survey that took part in 2019.
resultsThe vast majority of participants (92%) stated that they would use drug checking, if existent. If the test revealed the sample to contain a high amount of active ingredient, 91% indicated to take less of the substance than usual. Two-thirds (66%) would discharge the sample if it contained an unexpected/unwanted agent along with the intended substance. If the sample contained only unexpected/unwanted substances and not the intended substance at all, 93% stated to discharge the sample. Additional brief counseling was stated to be useful. Participants showed a comparatively high substance use.
conclusionsDrug checking as a harm reduction tool was highly accepted in the scene, and the majority of participants stated to align their consumption behavior accordingly, in a reasonable manner. A concomitant consultation would be appreciated, which may be used to direct educational information about harms and risks to users.
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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.