Fast drug testing to tackle unsafe drugs and vapes

Teesside University will be carrying out testing for harmful drugs and illegal vapes

A new drug testing contract has been handed out to tackle potentially lethal drugs and dangerous vapes.

Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton councils jointly funded the contract given to Teesside University to speed up testing.

The councils were told substances contained in some illegal vapes were an area of concern after a number of cases involving youngsters being hospitalised.

Street drugs are also frequently bulked out with additives which can have adverse health consequences leading to overdoses and in some cases deaths.

At least two fatalities on Teesside in the last 12 months were linked to drugs containing nitazene, a synthetic opioid in the same category as fentanyl which has caused thousands of deaths in the US.

A spokesman for Public Health South Tees said the ability to test quickly could "help to save lives and assist criminal investigations".

Fast results

The four local authorities are responsible for a drug information service which issues rapid alerts on adulterated illegal drugs and it is hoped the contract will help make the service more robust, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A report outlining the requirement for drug testing, which is being led by Redcar and Cleveland Council, said the threat had "increased measurably".

It said: "Of the samples that have been tested locally, numerous have been found to contain nitazene."

The report said the university, which has a testing lab in Darlington, could offer test results within two hours.

It added: "The university has been undertaking drug testing on an informal basis for some time, but as the threat from adulterated drugs increases, it is necessary for us to test more samples."