Fentanyl-testing strips may become legal in New Mexico

Fentanyl-detecting test strips could become legal and more easily available in New Mexico under legislation headed to the governor for signature with the goal of reducing harm and saving lives.

House Bill 52 would legalize drug-testing supplies like fentanyl-detecting test strips, and ensure that the state’s harm-reduction program has the flexibility it needs to deal with problems like fentanyl-overdose deaths, said co-sponsor Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque).

The Senate on Monday night passed the measure in a 32-3 vote, and it cleared the House a couple of weeks ago. So it now goes to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for her signature. 

In 2019, there were 599 substance abuse overdose deaths in New Mexico, making the rate of overdose deaths higher than the national average by 39.8%, according to legislative analysts.

They report that opiates are often contaminated with fentanyl. Coupled with the ongoing pandemic, this accelerated death and disability related to drug use statewide. For the first time ever in 2021, the number of people in the U.S. who died from an overdose surpassed 100,000.

“We need to be able to pivot in real time to — in this case — the shifting drug supply,” said Phil Fiuty, the harm-reduction director at the Mountain Center in Española, in an interview in September. At the time, he said a wave of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl was “causing all kinds of problems up and down the board.”

In general, harm reduction is a broad approach to behaviors that carry some inherent risk, most often the use of drugs but also sex and self-harm. The approach has been proven to save lives.

Sen. Bill O’Neill (D-Albuquerque) said the bill is common sense.

“Harm reduction works,” he said.

Public health interventions like syringe services and safer smoking kits are proven to help reduce the transmission of viral hepatitis, HIV and other blood-borne infections.

A common objection to harm reduction is that it “enables” drug users.

Harm reduction acknowledges the reality that people are going to engage in risky behaviors, with or without harm-reduction practices. But without them, many people will die along the way either by catching diseases or overdosing.

Sen. Pat Woods (R-Broadview), was one of three senators who voted against the bill. He characterized the bill as giving users “drug paraphernalia.” 

Rather than moralizing to drug users by pushing them to be abstinent, a harm-reduction approach encourages any positive change.

“It’s outrageous that people across this country are still being criminalized for possessing supplies and tools that they are solely using to keep themselves safer amid record overdose deaths,” said Emily Kaltenbach, senior director of criminal legal and policing reform at the Drug Policy Alliance. “The New Mexico state Legislature righted this wrong last night by passing House Bill 54 with overwhelming bi-partisan support.”