SAN ANTONIO – Data from prominent drug testing center Quest Diagnostics shows the number of tests detecting fentanyl has doubled since 2020.
The company has tracked substances detected since 1988 and released the data “to understand where trends are going, understand what impacts, and educate.”
The numbers show that positive results for both fentanyl and marijuana have doubled since 2020.
Tests with both fentanyl and amphetamines are up five percent since 2020.
“The indications that multiple substances are being potentially mixed or used together, obviously there are definitely concerns,” said Dr. Suhash Harwani, Quest Senior Director of Science.
Harwani said Quest research does not determine how many of those cases involve drugs laced with fentanyl, but a local mom said DEA numbers show that’s likely the situation for most of these tests.
“Any drug out there that is sold on the street has the potential to have fentanyl in it. And we can pretty confidently say that 80% of street drugs has fentanyl in it,” said Kathy Drago, founder of the fentanyl awareness organization Soles Walking for Souls.
Drago knows that first hand.
“In 2022 my son bought what he thought was a Xanax off of Snapchat," Drago said, "and when I got his autopsy back eight weeks later, there was not one piece of Xanax in it.”
Her first message is for people not to take illicit drugs in the first place.
“Unless they are getting something from their doctor, from a pharmacy,” Drago said. “If you buy anything off the street, you are subject to your life at risk. End of story.”
However, she knows that’s not always avoidable, so this Quest drug test data has her advocating for workplace safety.
“We want every single business, every entity, in this city to have Narcan,” Drago said. “If an employee has gone to the restroom or has gone on a lunch break and they come back and they’re sick and something’s happening, you need to have that Narcan on hand and that gives them a chance to live.”
Naloxone, which is sold under its brand name Narcan, is a medication nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose or poisoning.
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