City and County of Denver, CO

08/29/2024 | Press release | Archived content

Office of Medical Examiner Makes Strides With Rapid Toxicology Machine

Office of Medical Examiner Makes Strides With Rapid Toxicology Machine

Published on August 29, 2024

New rapid drug testing technology at the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) is giving the city more immediate answers to the types of deadly illicit substances flowing in our community with the goal of reducing their devastating impacts.

Receiving toxicology results quickly is an important public health function. OME shares this data with another Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE) division, Community & Behavioral Health (CBH), to inform public health interventions related to drug use in our community.

The in-house rapid toxicology machine allows staff to test the blood of decedents for substances, including fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs. The analyzer detects up to 29 classical, prescription and synthetic drugs from a single blood sample with a complete profile within 30 minutes. The Evidence MultiSTAT (Randox) automated immunoanalyzer was purchased using funding from theAmerican Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

These quick results help the city monitor drug trends in near real-time, as well as guide the city on where to spend its budget to combat the problem. The results also provide timely information for public health and public safety to act, mobilizing resources more rapidly to help people who may be at risk of experiencing an overdose. The analyzer also provides answers more quickly to grieving families and helps speed up long turnaround times for issuing death certificates, which help families resolve legal matters, including insurance benefits, settlement of pension claims or transfer of property.

Some of the city's public health interventions for drug use include substance use prevention, improving treatment access and retention, and reducing harm related to drug use. Part of this strategy involvesoffering harm reduction supplies,including naloxone and fentanyl test strips to Denver residents for free.Shipping times of these supplies from DDPHE can be up to two weeks. If you have an immediate need for naloxone, visitStoptheClockColorado.org.

Last year, OME recorded 598 overdose deaths with 389 resulting from fentanyl. SeeOME data dashboardfor fatal overdoses going back to 2018.

Though OME is still in the early stages of using Randox, forensic pathologist and Denver's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sterling McLaren, said the rapid test results have great promise not just by providing answers more quickly for the benefit of public health, public safety and the community, but they may also save taxpayers thousands of dollars by reducing the numbers of full, comprehensive toxicology testing for certain death investigations when first, rapid testing results are negative for drugs.

"It's our hope this new technology will help the city reduce drug-related deaths from opioids and other emerging drug threats," said Dr. McLaren. "Rapid toxicology testing allows us to serve as an early warning system, keeping track of what drugs threaten our communities most."

Denver must obligate ARPA local relief funds, totaling $308 million, by the end of 2024 and spend them by the end of 2026. The city solicited and received feedback from over 12,000 residents, Denver City Council, city agencies, the Mayor's Stimulus Advisory Committee, and the Mayor's Economic Recovery Council to inform the use of the city's ARPA allocation. Additionally, more can be seen about progress on the programs in Denver's regularly updated American Rescue Plan Funding Dashboardand story map.