Drug checking in Austria and identification of associated user characteristics
Background: Substance use is a key public health issue due to its potential impact on mental, physical and social health. One addiction prevention and harm reduction measure is integrated drug checking, which combines the chemical analysis of substances with psychosocial interventions. Drug checking is currently offered in four provinces in Austria, the first of which was introduced in Vienna in 1997. The aim of this study is to investigate how extensive drug checking is used among people who use drugs (PWUD) in Austria and what socio-demographic and substance use characteristics are associated with it. In addition, it is explored how people without drug checking experience are characterized and what reasons are given for not using this service in order to identify possible gaps in services provision and untapped potential for engaging PWUD.
Methods: A secondary data analysis of the Austrian data from the European Web Survey on Drugs (EWSD), conducted between March and May 2021 is being carried out. The data of 1,113 participants of this targeted multinational web survey were included for the purpose of this analysis. Based on the information on the previous use of drug checking, the data set was divided into two groups - those with (n = 224) and without (n = 889) drug checking experience – and compared with regard to various characteristics.
Results: The groups of people with and without drug checking experience differed significantly in terms of age (p < .001), household composition (p < .001), highest level of education (p = .048), employment status (p < .001), region of living (p =.0012), substance use prevalences and treatment experience (p < .001). People without drug checking experience were younger (Mean = 25.2 years vs. Mean = 27.9 years), more often students (33.1% vs. 22.7%), lived more often with their parents (33.1% vs. 13.1%) and lived more often on the countryside (38.7% vs. 28.1%). Drug checking experienced participants showed higher prevalences of use regarding most substances and were more often currently in medical or psychosocial treatment (14.3% vs. 6.5%). No difference in terms of gender and average monthly income could be determined. The two most common reasons for not having used the service so far were a high level of trust in the source of supply (64.8%) or in the expected good quality of the substances purchased (60.7%). More than half (58.7%) of those inexperienced with drug checking stated that there was no service near their place of residence. A lack of trust in drug checking services was the least frequently mentioned reason for not using it (12.3%).
Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that drug checking is not equally accessed by and accessible to all PWUD. There is still untapped potential for a wider distribution of drug checking in Austria and for broader access to other groups of PWUD who could benefit from this intervention.
