Hep Pack updates Alameda County on East Bay drug‑checking pilot, early results and costs

An Alameda County Health Committee briefing on Feb. 10 centered on the East Bay Drug Checking pilot led by Hep Pack, a Black‑led harm‑reduction nonprofit. Bronze Courtney, executive director of Hep Pack, described the pilot’s testing workflow, early results and plans to sustain and expand services in high‑overdose areas of Oakland and Berkeley.

"This is a drug checking program that the board funded sometime last year," Anika Chowdhury of Alameda County Health told supervisors as she opened the presentation and introduced Hep Pack and its partners. Courtney said the program was created to help people make safer choices by providing quality‑assurance information about an unregulated drug supply.

Courtney outlined Hep Pack’s integrated service model — syringe service sites, mobile outreach, overdose‑prevention education and medication‑assisted treatment navigation — and said the East Bay Drug Checking work complements those services. She described on‑site FTIR (Fourier‑transform infrared) scanning for live samples and mandatory submission of physical samples to confirmatory labs as the program’s quality‑assurance protocol.

Courtney reported that, in year one (October through June), the pilot tested 126 samples and found fentanyl in 39 of them. "The detection of unexpected drug highlights importance of the drug checking," she said, noting many samples did not match what participants expected. To date, Courtney said the program had tested 280 samples overall, including about 79 littered syringes collected and analyzed across East, West and central Oakland and Berkeley to broaden surveillance.

County and Hep Pack officials discussed the technology and training required for accurate reads: technicians must complete 100 confirmed spectra reads and undergo post‑training oversight before independently reporting results, Courtney said, describing these steps as necessary to avoid false readings.

Supervisors pressed staff on funding and coordination. Supervisor Tam asked whether opioid‑settlement funds could be used alongside roughly $850,000 allocated to Hep Pack and whether settlement dollars might free up county budget lines. "We plan to bring you a more detailed update on the opioid settlement funding," Anika Chowdhury said, adding that the drug‑checking pilot itself was funded with Measure A district dollars provided through Supervisor Carson’s office.

Courtney described implementation hurdles — late contract execution (planned July, executed in November), limited national training capacity and lengthy hiring to ensure trusted community hires — and said the pilot recently secured an extension through June 30, 2026. She estimated ongoing operating costs, excluding major startup purchases such as vehicles and machines, at "about a little over half a million" dollars per year.

Supervisors and staff also discussed outreach to encampments and continuity of care. County outreach teams and Hep Pack said they coordinate assessments, referrals and shared data for clients entering coordinated entry and health services. Courtney said Hep Pack prioritizes outreach in areas on encampment abatement lists so people receive supplies and linkages before displacement.

The presentation emphasized racial disparities in overdose deaths: speakers noted that Black residents continue to be disproportionately affected and that Native American overdose rates have risen recently, a trend the presenters said lacks a definitive explanation. Courtney said culturally competent, community‑trusted staff are central to effective outreach and retention in care.

Courtney and county staff said Hep Pack produces monthly, de‑identified infographics for participants and county project officers that summarize what was tested, what participants expected and what was actually detected. Officials said program data are shared in aggregate and without identifying information.

County staff said they will return next month with a fuller briefing on opioid‑settlement spending and related syringe‑access policy changes. No formal action or vote was taken at the Feb. 10 meeting; the clerk reported there were no public speakers on the item and the committee adjourned.

What happens next: Alameda County Health staff will provide a detailed opioid‑settlement funding update at a future meeting and Hep Pack is pursuing sustainability options (including OD2A support) to convert the pilot into an ongoing program if funding can be secured.