Florida has legalized fentanyl test strips, allowing people to buy the inexpensive strips to detect the presence of the deadly substance.
“It’s such a good thing,” said state Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland. “We may never hear about the lives it saves, but it’s going to save lives.”
The legislation, sponsored by Hunschofsky and state Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis. It goes into effect on Saturday.
Fentanyl deaths can happen in many ways. Often, someone using a recreational drug or supplement — a teen who pops what they think is an ADHD pill from a friend, a student who uses marijuana, an adult who takes cocaine — can die if the drug has been laced with fentanyl unbeknownst to them.
“We have many cases where people have died from fentanyl overdoses,” Hunschofsky said Wednesday. “We have examples of people thinking they’re taking an Adderall from a friend in order to stay awake for a class or stay awake for a final and it’s laced with fentanyl and then they die.”
Numbers
The most recent state statistics show that in 2021, fentanyl caused 5,791 deaths in Florida — more than cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and oxycodone combined.
The fentanyl-caused deaths in 2021 represented a 9% increase from 2020 — and a 77% increase from 2019.
Reports from the Florida Medical Examiners Commission show fentanyl was responsible for more than double the deaths caused by cocaine, the cause of the second-highest number of drug-related deaths, in 2020 and 2021.
In 2021, there were a total of 568 deaths in Broward, 479 in Palm Beach County and 299 in Miami-Dade County.
The test strips can detect the presence of fentanyl — which is deadly and is increasingly being added to supplements and illegal drugs.
The steps for using the strips are somewhat different depending on the drug being tested, according to a fact sheet on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Typically, testers mix a small amount of the drug in question with water and briefly dip the strip. After the strip is removed from the water it takes a few minutes to show the results.
Test strips
Test strips are available for $1 or $2 on Amazon, and in many states they’re distributed by health departments and social service agencies. The result is known in about five minutes or less.
The test strip legislation was supported by state attorneys Dave Aronberg in Palm Beach County and Harold Pryor in Broward.
“I want to make very clear how grateful I am to the Legislature — there wasn’t a single vote against this bill — and to the governor for signing this life-saving legislation,” Hunschofsky said. “It shows a commitment, really from our state, to really tackle overdoses, because in the end wouldn’t any of us do anything to protect our loved ones.”
Last year, an attempt to legalize the test strips foundered when it was opposed by Republicans in the Florida House, despite an intense lobbying campaign that included family members who lost loved ones to fentanyl overdoses.
Under the new law, narcotic drug testing products used to determine if a controlled substance contains fentanyl, fentanyl-related compounds, fentanyl derivatives, analogs of these substances, and mixtures containing any of these substances or any analogs, would no longer be considered “drug paraphernalia.” Possession of the strips would no longer subject someone to arrest.
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