Test Strips For Fentanyl, W MA
Local harm reduction and drug users' union activist Jess Tilley has discovered a quick, easy way to save drug users' lives : fentanyl urine test strips can also be used to test street heroin itself, as well as other illicit drugs, for the presence of fentanyl. When distributed to users, the results these test strips show can make them reconsider using a contaminated and possibly too-potent bag, or influence them to do less of a dicey supply. These strips each cost only a dollar--a cheap price to put on the difference between life and death.
Fentanyl is popping up all over the place in Western Massachusett's heroin supply. We've also seen it in cocaine, Ecstasy, and pressed pills sold on the blackmarket as prescription drugs. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which is 50 times stronger than heroin, and drug users ingesting it are at huge risk for overdose. In 2016 , drug overdose deaths went up to 34 in Hampshire County and 128 in Hampden County, mostly because of this deadly new factor.
Jess and Caty are two harm reduction activists representing the New England Users' Union who believe active users don't deserve to be sentenced to an easily preventable death. They're raising money to buy test strips for Jess to hand out in Northampton and the greater Hampshire County area and for Caty to hand out in Holyoke and Hampden County. Through chapters of the New England Users’ Union, the strips will also be distributed to users in parts of Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Again, each strip costs only a dollar yet provides a chance to save a life— a dollar from a small donation has never gone so far.
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Fentanyl is popping up all over the place in Western Massachusett's heroin supply. We've also seen it in cocaine, Ecstasy, and pressed pills sold on the blackmarket as prescription drugs. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which is 50 times stronger than heroin, and drug users ingesting it are at huge risk for overdose. In 2016 , drug overdose deaths went up to 34 in Hampshire County and 128 in Hampden County, mostly because of this deadly new factor.
Jess and Caty are two harm reduction activists representing the New England Users' Union who believe active users don't deserve to be sentenced to an easily preventable death. They're raising money to buy test strips for Jess to hand out in Northampton and the greater Hampshire County area and for Caty to hand out in Holyoke and Hampden County. Through chapters of the New England Users’ Union, the strips will also be distributed to users in parts of Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Again, each strip costs only a dollar yet provides a chance to save a life— a dollar from a small donation has never gone so far.
Our own Jess Tilley was profiled in the Huffington Post this week, in a longform love song to her two decades of harm reduction and drug users' union work in Western MA and New England:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/drug-user-unions_us_5a257c26e4b03350e0b86c00
There's also a HuffPost live segment: https://www.aol.com/video/view/_/5a3abb4a2242152b5679c521/
Shortly afterwards, NBC called interested in doing an article and short documentary on Jess as well!
Help continue to fund our fentanyl test strip campaign, which is an integral part of Jess' work, Since the fentanyl test strips being used to test drugs directly with water rather than urine is technically an off-label use, our local harm reduction organization can no longer hand them out openly, so we have become the only source for the test strips in Western MA. Also, this fundraiser is now the main source for the test strips in many communities in many states through the New England Drug Users' Union. Fentanyl is proliferating widely, showing up more and more often in cocaine and what appear to be prescription pills until one tests them, as well as being almost ubiquitous in the heroin supply. Users desperately need this information on the drugs they're doing in order to be able to decide how to use their drugs most safely. As usual, thank you so much for everything you've given so far, and please consider giving the gift of harm reduction for your holiday charity. (Yes, I just wrote that, and it sound more than corny, but my gratitude is genuine and I do think that giving to a cause which goes directly into life-saving materials, dollar for dollar, is a good way to make your seasonal charitable contribution!)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/drug-user-unions_us_5a257c26e4b03350e0b86c00
There's also a HuffPost live segment: https://www.aol.com/video/view/_/5a3abb4a2242152b5679c521/
Shortly afterwards, NBC called interested in doing an article and short documentary on Jess as well!
Help continue to fund our fentanyl test strip campaign, which is an integral part of Jess' work, Since the fentanyl test strips being used to test drugs directly with water rather than urine is technically an off-label use, our local harm reduction organization can no longer hand them out openly, so we have become the only source for the test strips in Western MA. Also, this fundraiser is now the main source for the test strips in many communities in many states through the New England Drug Users' Union. Fentanyl is proliferating widely, showing up more and more often in cocaine and what appear to be prescription pills until one tests them, as well as being almost ubiquitous in the heroin supply. Users desperately need this information on the drugs they're doing in order to be able to decide how to use their drugs most safely. As usual, thank you so much for everything you've given so far, and please consider giving the gift of harm reduction for your holiday charity. (Yes, I just wrote that, and it sound more than corny, but my gratitude is genuine and I do think that giving to a cause which goes directly into life-saving materials, dollar for dollar, is a good way to make your seasonal charitable contribution!)
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