Community Pharmacists: Underutilized Partners in Increasing Access to Fentanyl Test Strips

This session will present survey results from North Carolina (NC), as well as review policies from 50 states, in order to demonstrate that community pharmacists are underutilized partners in increasing access to fentanyl test strips (FTS) to prevent opioid overdose deaths. FTS are affordable, single-use drug-testing equipment that enables people who use drugs (PWUD) to check for the presence of fentanyl in the substances they use. Preliminary research has shown that PWUD who use FTS often engage in harm reduction strategies (such as not using alone) when they detect fentanyl; however, access to FTS is limited in many communities. Although community pharmacists are one of the most accessible health professionals in the U.S., whether they sell FTS has not yet been reported in the literature. To address this gap, the presenters conducted an online survey of 592 NC community pharmacists from March to May 2022. They found that only two pharmacies were currently providing FTS, but more than 92% were willing to sell FTS. The most common barriers to selling FTS were not knowing where to order FTS, lack of time to educate about FTS, and discomfort initiating an FTS conversation. Most respondents (88.3%) reported an interest in FTS training. Presenters will share maps that show pharmacists’ willingness to sell FTS and opioid overdose death rates by county, which helped us identify high priority areas for a new FTS training. They also will identify which states have policies that would likely permit community pharmacists to sell FTS and present examples of restrictive policies.