Howard Center to Distribute Fentanyl Test Strips

As part of its harm reduction approach to the treatment of opiate use, the Howard Center’s Safe Recovery program is distributing free test strips that can indicate the presence of fentanyl in illicit opiates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 63,632 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2016. The CDC attributes the rise in overdose deaths to the increased presence of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin.