Panel weighs HB 226 to authorize drug-checking services for harm reduction programs

Concord — The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee considered HB 226, a proposal to explicitly authorize drug-checking equipment and activities when used by registered harm reduction or public-health programs.

Proponents said the measure would legally enable programs to test illicit substances more comprehensively than single-target test strips and to carry out confirmatory analyses that public-health authorities need for rapid warnings. "We just do not have the information," Liz Bowley, director of education and technical assistance at the New Hampshire Harm Reduction Coalition, told the committee.

Representative Jody Newell, who introduced the bill, said the current law permitted single-substance test strips (for example, fentanyl strips) but not the broader range of equipment now available commercially. The bill would add definitions for "drug checking," "drug checking equipment" and related terms, carve out an explicit exemption from paraphernalia prohibitions for registered programs, and state that results should…