Glossary of Terms

Active ingredient

A specific ingredient in a mixture that is responsible for the substance’s pharmacological activity (e.g., fentanyl is the active ingredient in a mixture of caffeine, mannitol and fentanyl.) Alprazolam is the active ingredient of pharmaceutical Xanax® tablets, whereas etizolam/flubromazolam are the active ingredients of street Xanax® tablets.

Allyship

“Allyship is an active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person holding systemic power seeks to end oppressions in solidarity with a group of people who are systemically disempowered. Since everyone holds systemic power in some areas and lacks it in others, everyone has areas in which they can practice allyship” (taken from The Anti Oppression Network).

Analogue 

A structurally similar molecule in the same family of drugs that can have varying levels of potencies and effects. I.e. carfentanil, fluorofentanyl, methylfentanyl and acetylfentanyl are all analogues of fentanyl.

Analysis

The act of using an instrument or technique to determine the contents of a drug sample.

Anti-Oppression 

Actively working to remove oppression. 

Benzos

An abbreviation for benzodiazepines, which are a class of drugs which are commonly prescribed in Canada for anxiety, difficulty sleeping and seizure disorders. This class of drugs slow brain activity, which produces a calming or drowsing effect. Examples include Ativan® (lorazepam), Valium® (diazepam), Xanax® (alprazolam) and etizolam. There are also many different benzo
analogues being manufactured in the illicit market (i.e. flubromazolam, flualprazolam, bromazolam). Benzos can lead to overdoses when mixed with other sedatives such as alcohol, GHB, or opioids.

Binary results

Only provides a yes or no answer (positive or negative) to the presence of a specific ingredient in a substance. An example is immunoassay strip tests (e.g., fentanyl strip tests).

Bulk mixture

Refers to the entire amount of the substance from which a portion is being tested.

Calibration

Many instruments require routine analysis of a known mixture to ensure that they are functioning properly.

Chocolate chip cookie effect

Referring to the sometimes uneven distribution of active ingredients in diluent, resulting in ‘hot spots’. This means, in some portions of the substance, there are parts with higher concentrations of active ingredients. This is especially relevant to opioid-down, where the concentration of fentanyl can vary widely within a single sample.

Chromatography

A laboratory technique where mixtures are separated into their individual components. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography.

Cisgender

A person who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Colloidal gold solution

Contains extremely small gold particles that are suspended in a solution specifically used for SERS.

Consent

Consent is the expression of mutual sexual desire between two or more people. Consent must be mutual. Consent is given through a clearly communicated agreement and can be removed at any time. If consent is not given, it is sexual violence.

Controlled Substance

A substance included in Schedule I, II, III, IV or V of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Cross-contamination

When the contents of a sample being tested is tainted by a different substance not originally intended to be included in the testing. Cross contamination can happen before the service user gets the drug, while they handle the drug and even when the technician handles the drug if proper technique is not adhered to.

Diluent

An ingredient added to a substance to both increase its volume and reduce the concentration of the active ingredient. A diluent is what the substance’s active ingredient is diluted with, hence the name. In a tablet, the diluent is what gives tablets volume. Usually an inert white powder like microcrystalline cellulose, starch, or mannitol. In opioid-down, the diluent is often caffeine.

Distributed drug checking

A service model that allows samples to be collected, stored, and transported to another location for analysis. This means having many sites designated as ‘collection sites’ and a few sites designated as ‘testing sites’.

Dosing

A quantity of a substance to be administered to obtain the required effects. All drugs have different dosages and you need to also factor in the set and setting.

Drug Checking (DC)

Refers to an integrated HR service that allows people involved with substances (e.g., fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, DMT) to chemically analyze them. Results are received in a nuanced and non-judgmental way in order to increase the service user's knowledge and understanding of the substances they are considering taking.

Drug Elitism

Drug elitism is a form of discrimination from one population of people who use drugs on another because of the substances they use and how they put it in their body.

Electronic data capture software

Software that allows electronic recording of samples, including intake and results. Ideally, it includes the ability to upload spectral files to be accessed remotely, or at a later date for further interpretation. This software can be as simple as a custom Excel Spreadsheet, or as complex as specifically made software for this purpose.

Exemption

The act of exempting or state of being exempt: Immunity (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2022). An exemption in regards to DC is when the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) gives site-specific exemption to certain federal drug laws like drug possession.

Fixed Site

A permanent drug checking site (e.g., in a harm reduction agency, clinic, or store front).

Further analysis

Refers to when samples are sent to a laboratory with access to Tier 3 technology, such as mass spectrometry or qNMR, that can detect new substances and quantify accurately, including trace amounts of active ingredients.

Harm Reduction

“A holistic framework of practice that empowers people to decide what services work best for them, based on their own unique life situation. HR can include, but is not limited to; risk minimization and promoting awareness and education surrounding drug use and sexual health through PWLE leadership and community engagement” (ANKORS).

Heterogenous

A non-uniform or non-homogenous mixture.

Homogenous

A uniform mixture in composition and concentration

Immunoassay

A biochemical test that determines the presence of a specific molecule through the use of an antibody. Antibodies are also used by immune systems to neutralize foreign objects. These types of tests are extremely specific to the molecule that is being targeted by the test.

Indole

A specific chemical structure that is present in tryptamines (DMT, substituted tryptamines, psilocybin, psilocin etc) and lysergamides (LSD, 1P-LSD).

Instrument

A device a technician uses to determine the contents of a sample. 

Internal standard

A mixture of known ingredients at known concentrations which is then used to help identify and quantify an unknown sample.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality states that there are multiple forms of oppression within our social structure and each of these forms intersects and supports each other. This means that an individual can hold multiple identities making them privileged and oppressed at the same time, or to have to face multiple oppression at the same time.

Ionize

To be made into a positively or negatively charged molecule. It allows for mass spectrometers to "see" the molecules.

Library

A database of spectra of known substances and ingredients that are used in analysis to compare with the substance being tested.

Limit of detection

The minimum amount of an ingredient that needs to be in a mixture for the technology to detect it. FTIR has a detection limit of 3–5%. Fentanyl test strips have a detection limit for fentanyl of 20 ng/mL. Tier 3 technologies have much lower limits of detection.

Lysergamides

A specific chemical structure that is present in LSD and other closely related chemicals.

Method

A specific process (set of parameters or settings) that is used by an instrument to analyze a substance. 

Mixture analysis

Mixture analysis is a Bruker software feature for OPUS that allows for rough proportional estimates of how much of each of the main components are in a mixture.

Network of People Who Use Drugs (NPWUD)

An organized group of PWLLE that advocates around issues pertaining to PWUD, such as decriminalization, safe supply, and ending stigma of PWUD.

Examples: nationally there is CAPUD (Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs). In British Columbia there is BCYDWS (BC Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors) and the well-known VANDU (Vancouver area Drug Users). 

VANDU is responsible for establishing the first safe injection site in North America in Vancouver. In 2010, l’Association Québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD) became an autonomous community organization by and for PWUD, bringing together 2 projects under one roof: Association pour la défense des droits et l’inclusion des personnes qui consomment des drogues du Québec (ADDICQ) and the magazine L’Injecteur (in French only). 

Internationally there is The International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD), a global peer-based organization that focuses on, promoting the health and defending the rights of people who use drugs.

Asia Network of People Who Use Drugs (ANPUD) in Asia fights for the human rights of PWUD in their regions.

On-Site 

A temporary pop-up drug checking site that is set up for an event and taken down when the event is over (e.g., festival, conference, motel, or street site).

Oppression 

“The use of power to consciously or unconsciously disempower, marginalize, silence, and harm another social group that has been given less power in society, or has had power actively taken away from them to benefit the social group that is the oppressor” (taken from The Anti Oppression Network).

Overdose Prevention Site (OPS)

A safe use site within a province or territory that has been granted an emergency exemption by provincial ministerial powers, like in British Columbia. Since COVID-19, the federal government also has been giving out federal exemptions for Overdose Prevention Sites (OPSs) for all provinces and territories that want them. See PIVOT Legal Societies’ map of OPS/SCS sites across Canada.

People With Lived and Living Experience/Expertise (PWLLE)

A person with lived experience has had direct personal experience with past substance use. A person with living experience has direct personal experience with present substance use. PWLLE are experts in the field of substances and substance use and have first hand knowledge of issues PWLLE face within their communities.

Pharmaceutical Standards

Laboratory-synthesized and tested pure samples of drugs that are used for instrument calibrations.

Privilege

The access to power by the dominant group. Privilege gives economic, social, and political advantages at the expense of a marginalized group. Privilege is about holding power in society and having a certain level of opportunities and input in society. 

Quant 2 Model

QUANT 2 is a software add-on to Bruker’s analysis program (OPUS) and allows for the development of models to quantitatively analyze IR spectra to determine target component concentrations.

Qualitative results

Identify the contents of a substance using observable features but does not provide any information on the amounts of various ingredients present in a sample.

Quantitative results

Provides information on how much of an ingredient is present in a substance.

Racism

Racism involves one group having the power to carry out systematic discrimination through institutional policies and practices of the society, and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices.

Reagent

A chemical solution that, when dropped on a sample, reacts with the ingredients present. Based upon the colour change they exhibit, the drug checker can infer if the presumed substance is or is not present in the sample. This technology is considered Tier 1 as it is not very reliable, and is not a definitive test to identify ingredients.

Sample preparation

Refers to the process of grinding, dissolving or manipulating a substance so that it is ready to be introduced to the sensor of the instrument. Some technologies require minimal sample preparation, whereas others require extensive sample preparation.

Semi-quantitative model

These models can roughly determine the concentration of certain active ingredients in a sample (e.g., proportion of benzocaine in a cocaine sample, or approximate amount of fentanyl in an opioid-down sample). Although semi-quantitative models used by Tier 2 technologies are not as accurate as quantitative models used by Tier 3 technologies, semi-quantitative models can give useful information about how much of an ingredient is present in a sample.

Sensor

The part of the instrument that takes the reading of the substance. They can be externally located where the substance goes directly on the sensor (e.g., FTIR), or they can be hidden away inside the instrument and the sample must be brought to it (e.g., GC-MS).

Service User

Person who uses a service that is being provided.

Sex-positivity

The belief that sexual expression is healthy and is a right for people of all identities. Sex-positivity works to decrease the stigma of sexuality and promotes inclusive sex education, body-positivity, and self and community care within the framework of creating safe spaces.

Sexual Health

The ongoing experience of well-being related to sexuality, including the many intersecting aspects of sexuality, such as: psychological, environmental, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical aspects.

Signal

A reading received from an instrument's sensor to then be processed and interpreted by the software and technician.

Shot

The prepared  injection solution that includes the drug and sterile water. This has been heated to dissolve and drawn through a filter with a cotton into a syringe.

Solvent

A substance that can dissolve other substances to create a solution. Within drug checking, the solvent is usually water or methanol.

Spectra

Adjective: spectral. The plural of spectrum.

Spectrum

A term used in spectroscopy (e.g., FTIR and Raman) that refers to the graphical representation of a reading that the instrument has made. This is displayed as a complex line that represents a chemical compound or mixture. When the reading is taken from the sample it is called the sample spectrum. It is then compared against library spectra to identify the sample spectrum.

Spectrum subtraction

The ability to remove one spectrum from another. It is the basis for identifying multiple components in a mixture when drug checking with FTIR.

Stigma

Stigma can occur when a person’s worldview is not considered “socially acceptable”, which can further lead to a sense of helplessness and disempowerment. Stigma can be used as a tool of oppression to take away people’s power.

UPHNS (for drug checking)

UPHNS designations are a fast-tracked federal exemption that are applied for and given out by provincial and regional health authorities. The exemptions allows provinces and territories to establish new temporary UPHNS that can be used for collection, storage, and transportation of drug checking samples that are slated to be used for testing purposes. The decision to implement the exemptions is up to the jurisdiction’s discretion.

Vortexer

A device that is typically used to agitate a small container with liquid in it, the agitation helps the sample dissolve. A fancy alternative to shaking a container by hand.

WHIMIS

Stands for Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. It is a standardized system for classifying hazardous substances, creating cautionary labels, and provides material safety data sheets (MSDS) and worker education and training programs. Read more about WHIMIS here.