State Laws in Support of Drug Checking Programs Can Help Reduce Overdose

February 3, 2026 by Amy Lieberman-The Network For Public Health Law

Historically, there has been no way for people to know what, exactly, is in drugs bought outside of pharmacies. This lack of knowledge leads to increased risk of overdose and other negative outcomes. Contaminants including fentanyl are now present in the illicit drug supply throughout the United States, driving a more than 750 percent increase from 2015 to 2023 in non-methadone synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths. Other adulterants such as xylazine and medetomidine have also appeared in many areas of the country. Helping people determine what is in the drugs they intend to consume, often called “drug checking,” can be an impactful harm reduction intervention.
Drug checking research has shown that people often change their drug use when provided with information about what is in their drugs. Test strips, reagent tests, and more advanced equipment like FTIR machines or mass spectrometers are all used in comprehensive drug checking programs. While these methods vary in both comprehensiveness and expense, all provide information to a person about what is in the drugs they are considering using. 
State drug paraphernalia laws can limit access to drug checking initiatives by prohibiting possessing or distributing anything used for “testing” or “analyzing” drugs. Over the last few years, many states have modified these laws to remove barriers to some or all drug checking equipment. However, these laws typically only permit possession of the equipment used to perform drug checking, and do not explicitly provide protection from arrest and prosecution for possession of the drugs to be tested. Without these protections, the impact of drug checking on communities will not reach its full potential. As of January 2026, only three states--California, Vermont, and Massachusetts—have passed laws that permit both providers and clients to possess drugs to be checked, while Washington and Oregon provide protections for providers only.
California’s law is currently the most comprehensive of these laws. It permits the possession of injection or smoking equipment when obtaining drug checking services and provides a broad set of protections for staff of the drug checking program. Participants engaged in obtaining drug checking services are also immune from detention, arrest, prosecution, violation of parole, probation, or any form of community supervision, civil, disciplinary, or administrative action, forfeiture of property, or referral to ICE for possession of drugs. Further, the law forbids the collection of a participant’s personal information except when a provider is using the information to share results, after which it must be destroyed immediately and may not be shared with law enforcement.

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Drug checking services have been shown to reduce the risk of overdose by providing people with information on what is in drugs bought outside of pharmacies. Many state drug paraphernalia laws have been changed to increase access to drug checking equipment but are still silent on the use of that equipment. Changing state law to explicitly authorize comprehensive drug checking services could allow this important public health intervention to make a greater impact in reducing overdose death and drug-related harm.
Drug checking



















Drug checking services have been shown to reduce the risk of overdose by providing people with information on what is in drugs bought outside of pharmacies. Many state drug paraphernalia laws have been changed to increase access to drug checking equipment but are still silent on the use of that equipment. Changing state law to explicitly authorize comprehensive drug checking services could allow this important public health intervention to make a greater impact in reducing overdose death and drug-related harm.
ces have been shown to reduce the risk of overdose by providing people with information on what is in drugs bought outside of pharmacies. Many state drug paraphernalia laws have been changed to increase access to drug checking equipment but are still silent on the use of that equipment. Changing state law to explicitly authorize comprehensive drug checking services could allow this important public health intervention to make a greater impact in reducing overdose death and drug-related harm.