Drug sellers' use of drug checking services with Pablo Gonzalez Nieto

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Pablo Gonzalez Nieto, a harm reduction provider, drug checking technician, and research assistant at Substance Drug Checking within the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, Canada. The interview covers Pablo’s research article on drug sellers’ use of a drug checking service amid the overdose crisis in British Columbia, Canada.

We apologise for the sound quality at points during this episode, but we promise its worth the listen!

• What a drug checking service is [01:20]
• The motivation to examine drug sellers’ use of drug checking services [03:33]
• The difference in findings between drug sellers and drug consumers [08:00]
• The unique service that Pablo’s drug checking facility provides [09:00]
• The main take away from the paper [11:41]
• Using drug checking services as a harm reduction intervention [14:05]
• Funding cuts to harm reduction services in Canada [16:00]
• Drug consumption at the World Cup [17:35]

About Elle Wadsworth: Elle is an academic fellow with the Society for the Study of Addiction. She is based at the University of Bath with the Addiction and Mental Health Group and her research interests include drug policy, cannabis legalisation, and public health. Elle holds a voluntary role at The Loop, a non-profit service provider of drug checking in the UK.

About Pablo González Nieto: Pablo is a harm reduction provider, drug checking technician, and research assistant at Substance Drug Checking, within the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. He holds an MSc in Social Dimensions of Health from the University of Victoria, where his research focused on the unregulated opioid market and access to drug checking services among key populations. His research interests include drug decriminalization, novel psychoactive substances in the unregulated opioid supply, and the implementation of drug checking services in the Global South, among other topics.

Declarations of interest: None

Original article: Drug sellers' use of a drug checking service amid the overdose crisis in British Columbia, Canada https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70429

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