Fentanyl Tests, Narcan and More Available at Affirmations in Ferndale
(Mary Dupuis, June 16, 2023)
Ferndale, MI – Affirmations is a LGBTQ+ Community Center founded in 1989 with the mission of providing a welcoming space for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions and cultures to find support and acceptance.
Based in Ferndale, the center offers a wealth of resources and support for the community such as COVID-19 resources, LGBTQ+-friendly domestic violence support, LGBGQ+ resources for parents, LGBTQ+-friendly homelessness resources and LGBTQ+-friendly mental wellness and health services.
In addition to all of these resources, the center also hosts youth programs, support and discussion groups, name/gender marker change clinics and special events.
As of last summer, Affirmations also began to offer free testing kits people can pick up, with no questions asked, that can be used to detect Fentanyl in street drugs.
Affirmations’ Community Engagement Manager, Justin Bettcher, said last summer a local DJ, who now lives in Miami, had access to the testing kits and had offered to send them to Affirmations to have as a resource for the community.
Bettcher said there was a slow trickle of people taking the tests throughout the year, and once they ran out he contacted Oakland County to ask for more kits, which were supplied.
Over time community awareness of the kits grew and Oakland County reached out to Affirmations about installing a Narcan vending machine in the center. Now, the testing kits are stored alongside the Narcan in the vending machine as well as at the front desk in the center.
Bettcher said the tests work very similarly to COVID-19 testing kits with instructions and diagrams on the packaging.
To use a kit, one would take a small amount of the street drug and put it in a container to mix with water. Then, a testing strip is placed into the mix for about 15 seconds, taken out and placed on a flat surface for about five minutes until results can be read.
While there may be concerns that this enables drug use, Bettcher said it’s important to view it in a different way.
“There are a lot of different avenues to recovery,” Bettcher said. “There are some users who not only relapse, but there are people who aren’t able to get to that point or it takes them a lot longer. So, while they’re still (using the drugs), we want to make usage as safe as possible.”
He said although Affirmations offers harm reduction programs for drug use such as support groups, they can’t control who does, and does not, take advantage of them. The testing kits are there as a way to protect the people who aren’t getting help yet.
“I think if someone is choosing to do something, then it’s good that we’re able to provide a safe avenue for that,” Bettcher said. “But I don’t necessarily think that just because these things are available and supplied that that’s going to really encourage anyone to to do (drugs).”
Bettcher said members of the harm reduction group Affirmations has have voiced their appreciation for the availability of the kits for the community. He also said there have also been instances of parents calling and asking for kits for their adult children to use.
The kits are not just available to help those in Oakland County. Affirmations has partners across the state, even if they’re not part of the LGBTQ+ community, who will reach out to the center during music festivals or local events where substance use is generally higher and ask if some kits can be sent their way.
“A lot of times it doesn’t even have to do with addiction, because there are people that use substances on a recreational basis,” Bettcher said. “If there is any way to make that stuff safer for someone it’s really good to have (the kits), so I’m glad that we do.”
Oakland County also offers a number of “harm reduction” services, with According to the Oakland County government website, services are there for “helping people who use drugs make healthier choices to prevent overdoses, HIV, and Hepatitis C.”
In addition to substance testing there are Narcan kits, condoms, syringes, testing and treatment for STIs, HIV and Hepatitis C, assisting with Medicaid enrollment, and more. Narcan Vending machines can be found at Meridian in Waterford, Affirmations in Ferndale, Neu Hope in Hazel Park and Oakland University in Rochester. Save A Life Boxes can be found on this interactive map. Learn more about Oakland County offerings at https://www.oakgov.com/community/health/public-health-services/disease-prevention/harm-reduction-syringe-services.
Learn more about Affirmations at www.GoAffirmations.org.
