USC must go beyond Naloxone SC to provide free fentanyl testing strips


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A drawing of a fraternity house with the letters "ABC" and a sidewalk that looks like a fentanyl testing strip, which is blue and contains pink lines.
(Lauren Schatzman | Daily Trojan)

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times reported fentanyl-laced cocaine circulating around the Los Angeles area. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, this powerful drug can be lethal in doses of as little as two milligrams compared to 200 milligrams for heroin. Drug dealers intentionally contaminate fentanyl with other drugs because of its low cost and potency, which results in fentanyl traces in other substances such as MDMA, or ecstasy and cocaine. 

Consequently, unassuming drug users — who are typically not addicts themselves — risk accidentally ingesting a lethal dose of fentanyl. In order to reduce that risk, student-run nonprofits, such as Trojan Awareness Combating Overdose, urge students to test drugs for fentanyl before consumption. 

TACO provides free fentanyl test strips and Narcan to reduce the risk of fentanyl overdose. Additionally, they partnered with Duffl Inc., a student-run convenience store delivery service, to deliver tests to students in under 10 minutes at $0.01 a strip, plus a delivery fee. 

The tests are simple to use. Users dip a test strip into a strawberry-seed-size product and water mix. Results come between 90 seconds and five minutes later. With such a simple way of preventing death, there is no reason the University cannot do more to ensure that no student overdoses on fentanyl. 

While these grassroots efforts are a good thing, not all students are aware of them. Fraternity members run Duffl, and TACO focuses its efforts on Frat Row. Specifically, members set up their stand on the Row every Friday afternoon where they hand out testing strips and TACO has been invited to give every house on the Row a presentation on harm reduction. However, substance abuse is a problem that extends beyond Greek life.

Alexis Areias, president of the Undergraduate Student Government, reached out to TACO to potentially include fentanyl testing strips in USC’s “wellness to-go vending machine” at King Hall. The vending machine provides contraceptives, but cheap fentanyl testing strips are only available via TACO and Duffl, and one can cost $1.96 with the delivery fee. This is a problem. 

While incredible for its academics, USC is a notorious party school where substance abuse occurs. By ignoring that fact, the University harms its students. Abstinence is not a viable solution to the problem of overdose, just as abstinence-only sex education is not an effective solution for teenage pregnancy. It is not reasonable for a university to just tell students to stop doing drugs because students will still do drugs regardless, as seen with the failure of the D.A.R.E. campaign. 

Currently, USC runs the Naloxone SC program, which provides an opioid overdose reversal training video with free fentanyl testing strips and Narcan-brand nasal spray to students who complete the training. While this program is a valid effort by the University, it is simply not enough. Students should not have to complete a training to receive free strips because it merely aids its inaccessibility. There must be a widespread effort to distribute them to everyone. 

Not to mention the fact that the University has shown concern for other public health crises. With mandatory coronavirus testing procedures, free condoms in student housing and full panel sexually transmitted infections testing at Engemann Student Health, there is no reason why USC should not do the same with the opioid epidemic. Drug overdoses among students have always been a problem — why has the University taken so long to address them? 

Providing free fentanyl testing strips is one way the University could promote harm reduction. USC does not require students to undergo sexual education training before using condoms. They could normalize fentanyl testing in the same way they normalized condoms with “Trojans Wear Condoms” buckets. 

There are still many barriers to safe drug use in the United States, as the stigma surrounding drugs continues to prevent education on harm reduction. Overdose is one of the leading causes of death in the country, with opioids responsible for over 70% of all drug-related deaths. USC must go beyond solely making fentanyl test strips more widespread in order to prevent more deaths.