People who inject drugs have a high risk of premature death due to fatal overdoses. Newly emerged fentanyls, much more potent than heroin and other opioids, may increase this risk further. Therefore, accurate information on injected drugs is critical to improving prevention strategies. The aim of this project is to obtain information about injected drugs by analysing drug residues in used injection equipment.  Used syringe barrels and needles are collected at the supervised drug consumption facilities, the needle exchange service and low-threshold health services for problem drug users. Drug resides are extracted and analysed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection.

We are collaborating with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction through the project European Syringe Collection and Analysis Project Enterprise (ESCAPE), see https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/escape_en

Photo: Shutterstock

Project members

• Hallvard Gjerde (Senior Scientist, PhD)
• Lihn Bache-Andreassen (Scientist, PhD)
• Gerd-Wenche Brochmann (Laboratory Engineer)
• Tao Angell-Petersen McQuade (Scientist, MSc)

Past members

• Håvard Furuhaugen (Laboratory Engineer, MSc)
• Vigdis Vindenes (Section Manager, PhD)

Collaboration

• Anne Line Bretteville-Jensen (Senior Scientist, PhD), Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
• Kristin Hanoa (Scientist), Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo; and Agency for Social and Welfare Services, Oslo Municipality, Oslo, Norway
• Victor Detrez (Scientist, PharmD), French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Paris, France
• Thomas Nefau (Scientific Analyst, PharmD, PhD), European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, Portugal

Publications

Gjerde, H., Bretteville-Jensen, A. L., Furuhaugen, H., Bache-Andreassen, L., Bergh, M. S., & Vindenes, V. (2020). Determination of drug residues in used syringe needles. Drug Test Anal, 12(3), 410-416. https://doi.org/10.1002/dta.2759 

Gjerde, H., Bretteville-Jensen, A. L., Bache-Andreassen, L., Hanoa, K., Furuhaugen, H., Brochmann, G. W., & Vindenes, V. (2021). Which illicit drugs are injected in Oslo? A study based on analysis of drug residues in used injection equipment and self-reported information. Scand J Public Health (in press). https://doi.org/10.1177/14034948211043984  

EMCDDA. (2021). An analysis of drugs in used syringes from sentinel European cities: results from the ESCAPE project, 2018 and 2019. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/technical-reports/escape-2018-2019-drugs-in-used-syringes-from-sentinel-european-cities_en