Markets Can Calm Opioid Epidemic If Government Gets out of the Way

Yesterday, WBUR in Boston reported on a simple technology that could reduce the number of opioid deaths: fentanyl test strips. The strips can be used by drug users to test for the presence of fentanyl in drugs they buy on the street. A Brown University study found that,

Sixty-two percent of young adult drug users who participated in the study in Rhode Island dipped the thin, pliable strips into the cooker where they heated the powder, or into their urine sometime after injecting. Half reported a positive result — a single dark pink line emerging on the strip — signaling fentanyl.

Most changed their routine as a result in at least one of these ways: 45 percent said they used a smaller amount of the drug; 42 percent slowed down their use; 39 percent used with someone else who could help if they ODed; and 36 percent did a test amount before injecting the full syringe.

While these routine changes aren’t as effective at preventing overdose as not taking the drugs at all, they do reduce the risk of a fentanyl overdose. So why aren’t more of these potentially lifesaving strips in the hands of those who could use them? As WBUR recounts,

But few drug users have access to fentanyl test strips. They are not FDA-approved, so are not for sale in drugstores or other outlets in the U.S. A handful of harm reduction groups fund distribution through private contributions. Other groups say they'd like to order the strips from the Canadian manufacturer but can't afford the cost: about $1 per strip.

As federal and state officials are scrambling to come up with policy responses to the opioid epidemic it seems they are ignoring one easy measure: get out of the way and let the market provide low-cost harm reduction tools to those who can benefit from them.

Written with research assistance from David Kemp.