Dr. Chris Gill (left) hasn't received funding to implement his tools which can tell a substance user whether their drugs will cause an overdose. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

saving lives

Despite success, advanced drug testing breakthrough from VIU not receiving funding

Jan 29, 2021 | 6:43 AM

NANAIMO — A tool created at Vancouver Island University to save lives isn’t being used to its full potential due to a lack of funding.

The project created by Dr. Chris Gill and his team at VIU uses devices known as mass spectrometres to analyze drug samples. It then tells the user exactly what’s in their drugs and could avert them from taking a lethal dose.

Unfortunately, since NanaimoNewsNOW profiled the technology in late 2018, no one has come forward with funding to ensure the technology is used where it’s needed most.

“I’m surprised at the limited intake in terms of people wanting to put dollars forward,” Gill told NanaimoNewsNOW on Wednesday, Jan. 26. “Lots of people are enthusiastic about it…but it seems to be a challenge for whatever reason to get committed funds to move this to the next stage.”

Gill earned a $25,000 semi-finalist prize from the Health Canada Drug-Checking Technology Challenge as well as some grant funding, but there’s no indication Health Canada or the BC ministry of health will fund further use.

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The technology was used in a successful and high-profile pilot in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside in 2019.

“The harm reduction workers who were on the ground every day interacting with clients were shocked at the quality of the information given back. The clients involved in the Downtown Eastside-I got several hugs and more than one person saying this is what they’d wanted for a long time.”

Since everyone already knows B.C.’s drug supply is tainted, Gill said the mass tests will show how tainted the supply is, whether it has only a trace amount of fentanyl or enough to trigger an immediate overdose.

It can also be used to detect new elements entering drug supplies.

Gill said their tests showed benzodiazepines before many knew they were being mixed with drugs. This is important because unlike fentanyl, a dose of narcan won’t stop an overdose caused by benzos.

“That kind of accurate information allows for a better informed decision.”

The technology is being used to test samples provided by the University of Victoria. Gill’s tested over 400 samples as part of the Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project.

In December, the project found an average of 8.8 per cent concentration of fentanyl in the samples tested, with an above average strength of the drug often found.

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spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt