Over the long winter break, I came across an anti-drug advertisement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Usually, I would have skipped such an interruption to my Dark Souls speedrun commentary, but the words “Protect yourself from the dangers of fentanyl” intrigued me with its sleek animations and grave narration. A lethal dose of fentanyl can be as small as “a fraction of a raindrop, or three grains of salt,” I learned. The public service announcement lasted a mere 60 seconds, but I left a more educated man.
This was the first time I had really paid attention to any form of government anti-drug media campaign, and the success of this particular ad’s impression on me, while partially to the credit of the CDC, is also due to the recent memory that fentanyl has killed in Binghamton. Just last semester, rumors swirled that multiple recent alumni died due to consuming cocaine that, unbeknownst to them, had been laced with fentanyl.
Despite how recently these overdoses occurred, they simply don’t exist within our collective consciousness as BU students. They were rumors — unconfirmed by local media outlets or campus administrators. The BU community can’t operate like that. Students deserve to know about overdoses on campus, so that they can make educated judgments when they go out on the weekends. Attention could have been drawn to the incident while still respecting the victims’ families and privacy; instead, little concern was shown regarding a serious issue of public safety by administrators, who blatantly ignored coverage of the tragedy. Fentanyl is also notably present in the community, as multiple local news organizations have reported new spikes in overdoses in Broome County almost once per month throughout the fall semester.
According to the CDC, synthetic opioids like fentanyl accounted for 72.9 percent of all opioid-involved overdose deaths in the United States as of 2019. That number continues to rise. Meanwhile, our country is in respite from a 50-year war on drugs, to which we owe nothing but mass incarceration, police militarization and the gross stigmatization of addiction and illicit drug use. Despite all the efforts of policymakers and law enforcement to squash supply, illicit substances will continue to be accessible to those who seek them out, including students. The almighty invisible hand is not to be trifled with. The unwavering demand for drugs in Binghamton, therefore, necessitates a new approach to prevent future tragedy.
Enter harm reduction.
The phrase refers broadly to public health approaches which aim to mitigate the social and physical consequences of drug use, rather than targeting the illicit supply chain or incarcerating those who use drugs. Harm reduction measures should be central to the county and University’s drug policy, but progress has been slow. BU now holds opioid overdose prevention training seminars every semester, but these aren’t well promoted — you have to look for them in the B-Line. These seminars are open to everyone at the University, and give students the opportunity to acquire free naloxone, or Narcan — a life-saving drug which would ordinarily be prohibitively expensive for most students.
Students can also take initiative to prevent drug overdose by purchasing or distributing fentanyl test strips. These strips can detect traces of fentanyl in other drugs, and could have potentially prevented the deaths last semester if properly utilized. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl can be found cut into a myriad of substances at the street level, and is undetectable by human senses. Testing drugs is essential to ensure any degree of safety when it comes to using illicit substances. Fentanyl test strips work like any other chemical indicator, and they have the potential to save lives, especially in conjunction with other reagents used to uncover adulterants. Drug testing kits are legal under New York state law, but often aren’t accessible enough to make an impact. We can work together to fix that.
Ben Gaviola, a third-year mechanical engineering student here at BU, is ahead of the curve. Through a startup contest called “Pitch It!”, he secured funds to discreetly and freely distribute 500 fentanyl testing strips from two downtown hotspots: Maryam’s Halal and Sugar Mountain. Additionally, fentanyl test strips are available for free at the Johnson City branch of the Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP), but only by registering for their syringe exchange program. The program is geared toward people with opioid use disorder in Johnson City, but the resources are available to all in need. There are also several online vendors carrying fentanyl test strips, and other, more comprehensive testing kits. The market price of the test strips is about $1 per strip.
The University’s Decker Student Health Services Center has yet to support any harm reduction services beyond infrequent overdose prevention seminars, and is unlikely to implement any changes without significant pressure. In the meantime, there are alternative pathways to harm reduction. Next time you find yourself in Downtown Binghamton going to a party or bar, stop by Maryam’s and grab a couple strips. Give them to friends you think might be at risk. Spread the word.
Social media activism, for all its flaws, works best when solutions are available and underutilized — such is the case for campus harm reduction. Let’s work together to end drug overdose deaths in Binghamton by drawing attention to fentanyl test strips and Narcan. The more open discussions we can have about drug abuse and harm reduction in our community, the better we can protect ourselves from the worst consequences of drugs on campus. This is an area where we can make a difference in our community, with or without the help of administration.
Let’s make this semester one free of drug overdoses in our community.
Jacob Wisnock is a freshman majoring in political science.