‘Keep them alive’: More states legalize fentanyl test strips to combat surging opioid deaths

A growing number of states are decriminalizing fentanyl testing strips, seeking to protect people who use drugs from unwitting exposure to the highly potent synthetic opioid ravaging the U.S. with overdose deaths. The strips have the support of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a way to help prevent fentanyl overdoses. But the strips are still technically illegal in some states under drug paraphernalia laws dating back decades. Now at least 20 states, including Ohio, Mississippi and Pennsylvania just this year, have legalized the test strips in a bid to combat rising deaths from the ever-present opioid crisis.