Needle and syringe programmes

An analysis of drugs in used syringes from sentinel European cities: results from the ESCAPE project, 2018 and 2019

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Psychoactive drugs, Medical equipment, Health sciences, Health, Drug culture, Drug paraphernalia, Syringe, Harm reduction, Injection, Heroin, Needle and syringe programmes, Low dead space syringe

An analysis of drugs in used syringes from sentinel European cities: results from the ESCAPE project, 2018 and 2019

Key Points: 
  • An analysis of drugs in used syringes from sentinel European cities: results from the ESCAPE project, 2018 and 2019
    This report presents new findings from the ESCAPE (European Syringe Collection and Analysis Project Enterprise) network, based on the chemical analysis of the contents of used syringes across sentinel sites in Europe.
  • Syringes were collected in 2018 and 2019 from the bins of street automatic injection-kit dispensers and at harm reduction services in eight European cities: Amsterdam, Budapest, Cologne, Helsinki, Lausanne, Oslo, Paris and Vilnius.

European Syringe Collection and Analysis Enterprise (ESCAPE) – generic protocol

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Psychoactive drugs, Drug culture, Medical specialties, Harm reduction, Health, Addiction medicine, Drug paraphernalia, Prevention of HIV/AIDS, Needle and syringe programmes, Syringe, Injection, Heroin

This protocol documents a new approach that has been developed to monitor substances injected by people who inject drugs through analytically confirmed data at the local level: the analysis of residual content of used syringes.

Key Points: 
  • This protocol documents a new approach that has been developed to monitor substances injected by people who inject drugs through analytically confirmed data at the local level: the analysis of residual content of used syringes.
  • Used syringes contain traces of drugs that can be analysed to inform public health professionals about injecting drug use, and to contribute to the understanding of drug addiction among people who inject drugs.
  • Used syringes can be collected from low-threshold services where needle exchange programmes are in place.
  • They can also be collected from automatic injection kit dispensers, combined with street bins (where people who inject drugs can obtain their new sterile injection kit in return of a used syringe), thereby obtaining injecting material from populations that might not be in contact with health and social services.