Halton Healthcare offers free xylazine tests to enhance safety for opioid users

Halton Healthcare is set to provide opioid users with free xylazine tests, to make sure their drugs are safer.

Frequently known as ‘tranq’ or ‘horse tranquilizer’, Halton Healthcare says xylazine can cause very serious harm in people, such as severe skin ulcers, respiratory and central nervous system depression or death, especially when combined with opioids.

Health Canada approved the test strips, which can quickly detect the presence of the substance in opioids such as fentanyl.

According to federal statistics, in 2022, Canada saw 7,328 opioid toxicity deaths, averaging 20 a day. Almost 87 per cent of those deaths happened in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

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Earlier this year, Halton Healthcare staff noticed many patients with severe symptoms from opioid-related issues.

“We saw individuals with large ulcers, people who remained sedated after having one or two rounds of naloxone or having seizures as part of the withdrawal from opioids,” says Medical Director Dr. Jeremy Butler.

Halton Healthcare says the test strips are another way to help keep people safe and it’s a non-judgmental way for staffers to educate patients about the dangers of fentanyl in order to prevent further harm.