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drug checking

DRUG CHECK­ING SER­VICES AT STREET CON­NEC­TIONS, 496 HAR­GRAVE ST.

Hours of Oper­a­tion: Mon­day-Wednes­day-Fri­day, 8:30AM‑3:30PM (closed 12PM-1PM)


DRUG CHECK­ING SER­VICES WILL BE CLOSED ON OCTO­BER 10th, 2025. 

We apol­o­gize for the inconvenience.


Drug check­ing is free, legal, vol­un­tary, and con­fi­den­tial for any­one using substances.

Drug check­ing helps com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers check their drugs for con­t­a­m­i­nants and take steps to reduce harms from potent or unex­pect­ed drugs.

The ser­vice is run by trained staff. Ser­vice users will receive test results as part of a harm reduc­tion conversation. 

We use an FTIR spec­trom­e­ter (a type of machine used to look into dif­fer­ent sub­stances) to test a small sam­ple of the drugs (the size of half a match head). Sam­ples used with this equip­ment are returned to the ser­vice user. 

Because this test does not detect drugs in small per­cent­ages, test strips will be used for detect­ing fen­tanyl and ben­zo­di­azepines. A few grains of drugs are used in these tests. This tiny sam­ple will be destroyed.

The spec­trom­e­ter does not work with sub­stances like cannabis, mush­rooms, drugs in can­dies or food, and paper blotters.

Test results may also be used to devel­op com­mu­ni­ty alerts for when par­tic­u­lar­ly potent sub­stances are identified.

Why drug checking?

Drug check­ing ser­vices are offered across many loca­tions in Cana­da and in oth­er coun­tries. This ser­vice exists as a response to the unreg­u­lat­ed and unpre­dictable street drug sup­ply cir­cu­lat­ing in our com­mu­ni­ties. Mon­i­tor­ing of drug mar­kets by Drug Check­ing Ser­vices is well estab­lished in many countries. 

Research and eval­u­a­tion of these ser­vices have found that they have a pos­i­tive impact among ser­vice users. This ser­vice may influ­ence drug use prac­tices, par­tic­u­lar­ly when results are unex­pect­ed or the test detects a drug of concern. 

Find­ings from drug check­ing ser­vices may result in drug alerts. Drug alerts are a way to inform the com­mu­ni­ty when poten­tial­ly harm­ful drugs are circulating. 

This ser­vice pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty for peo­ple to access time­ly and rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion to make informed deci­sions about drug use. 

For more infor­ma­tion on drug check­ing ser­vices, see One-Page-Fact-Sheet_Drug-Checking-Services-Systematic-Review.pdf (cdpe​.org)

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Drug Check­ing Ser­vices Reports

Our quar­ter­ly sum­maries give a high-lev­el overview of the data col­lect­ed at HSHR/​Street Con­nec­tions site. They include:

  • Key find­ings for the quarter
  • Num­ber of sam­ples checked
  • Sub­stances detected 
  • Num­ber of sam­ples match­ing ser­vice users’ expectations 
  • Pub­lic health notifications/​Drug alerts

DCS Quar­ter­ly Report Jun-Sept2024

DCS Quar­ter­ly Report Oct-Dec 2024

DCS Quar­ter­ly Report Jan-Mar 2025

DCS Quar­ter­ly Report Apr-Jun 2025

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If you have ques­tions or feed­back about this ser­vice, do not hes­i­tate to email us at outreach@​wrha.​mb.​ca

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In Win­nipeg, drugs can also be checked at:

Nine Cir­cles Com­mu­ni­ty Health Cen­tre at 705 Broad­way, Tues/​Wed/​Thurs 10:00am to 4:00pm

The Mobile Over­dose Pre­ven­tion Site (MOPS) at Mobile Over­dose Pre­ven­tion Site (MOPS) by Sun­shine House (NOTE: MOPS is unable to oper­ate drug check­ing ser­vices as of July 4, 2025)

You can get your drugs test­ed via the mail at Get Your Drugs Tested

If you need assis­tance with this ser­vice, please call 204−981−0742

Check their test result by loca­tion. Street Con­nec­tions mon­i­tors test results from sub­stances sent by com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to this ser­vice. When a test war­rants alert­ing to the com­mu­ni­ty, the results are post­ed in the site Pub­lic Alerts.