Dasgupta runs the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab, which receives street drugs from all over the country, tests them for contaminants like fentanyl and xylazine, and produces weekly reports so that police stations, health departments, and harm reduction organizations can take action in their communities. The lab serves more than 160 programs in 43 states.

This work has been recognized by North Carolina First Lady Anna Stein, whose platforms include reducing stigma against people with substance use and mental health disorders. As the former policy advisor to the Overdose Prevention Team at the N.C. Division of Public Health, Stein believes that stigma is a barrier to policy change and effective treatment.

“Dr. Dasgupta’s work is founded upon the idea that all people, including people who use drugs, have lives that are worth saving,” she shares. “The work of the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab saves lives, plain and simple. Their reports warn people about dangerous additives in the drugs they are taking so they can choose not to use them or to use them in a safer manner, and they inform medical personnel on how best to respond when people show up in an ambulance or emergency room as a result of drug use.”

Dasgupta is also the co-founder of a nonprofit called Remedy Alliance/For the People, which provides low-cost naloxone — the medicine that reverses overdose — to public health agencies across the nation.

“Our fundamental mission is to make our neighbors healthier,” Dasgupta says. “We want people to make better decisions about what they put in their bodies. Science can help with that. Our goal is really science in service. What we are doing here on campus has repercussions all over the country.”

Testing street drugs

Each day, Dasgupta’s team receives dozens of packages containing drug samples from around the country. They upload the drug identification data into their system and then take the samples to the lab for processing. This involves isolating a small sample of the drug into a vial that is then loaded into a mass spectrometer, a “fancy machine that determines exactly what’s in that drug sample down to the atomic level,” Dasgupta says.

For example, xylazine — a dangerous drug found in the supply over the past decade — becomes deadly when mixed with fentanyl. Dasgupta’s lab detects these threats early, creating detailed reports for sample providers and analyzing national trends to guide harm reduction, like where to focus overdose prevention and distribute naloxone.

“Part of the reason why we started testing street drugs is because we don’t find out what’s in the drug supply until it’s too late, when people are either dead or they’re arrested,” Dasgupta shares. “There’s no opportunity for prevention. There’s no opportunity for recovery. We can do better.”

The lab exists, in part, thanks to the culture of collaboration at Carolina. The chemistry department in the College of Arts and Sciences supports the fundamental scientific research used to process the drugs, while the statistical analysis is completed by researchers at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dasgupta and his team also partner with labs in the School of Medicine when more in-depth drug assessments are needed.

“UNC-Chapel Hill is a great place to do this kind of work because we are a public institution,” he says. “Our mission is to serve the people of our state. On top of that, the university has immense resources that have helped us bring this project from a concept to a sustainable service that we can provide to the citizens of our counties.”

Providing the antidote

Dasgupta began studying drug overdose and prevention during his master’s program at Yale University and then expanded his work at Carolina in 2005, upon the start of his PhD program at Gillings.

“The topic was not well-appreciated at the time, but my professors were encouraging,” he admits.

Dasgupta began working with local leaders in Western North Carolina to promote the distribution of naloxone. The program they created became the first in the world to use the life-saving medicine.

In partnership with the Opioid Safety and Naloxone Network, this program has transformed into Remedy Alliance/For the People, which works with nearly 500 programs to distribute injectable naloxone directly to people who use drugs in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

“This allows programs to have access to enough of the antidote to actually make a difference in the overdose death rates in their communities,” Dasgupta says.

Collaborating with community partners

Together, the lab and the nonprofit are curbing overdoses in North Carolina and across the country.

In Fayetteville, Dasgupta and his team work with Charlton Roberson, the eastern regional coordinator for the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC). This grassroots organization provides life-saving services to individuals who are impacted by substance abuse and pushes for better drug policies.

“Harm reduction is like putting on a seatbelt in a car to prevent injury from an accident,” Roberson explains. “When it comes to people who are impacted by drug use or substance abuse, we want to reduce the harm they might do to themselves and to the community around them.”

Roberson supports harm reduction programs for Harnett, Cumberland, and Robeson counties. They supply clean syringes to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, educate substance abusers about overdose, and partner with local law enforcement to divert individuals with addiction from crime and into treatment.

The UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab supplies Roberson and his team with trends in the local drug supply, and Remedy Alliance/For the People provides the community with test kits and naloxone.

“Exchange of information has been ultra-important for us, not only for our participants but treatment providers and law enforcement,” Roberson says. “Trends observed by the lab have helped us understand that we need to intensify our work because the amount of people who are dying or being impacted by overdose is still too high.”

“Organizations like Charlton’s are absolutely essential because they are the last mile,” Dasgupta says. “They are the ones who have direct connection to the communities they live in. There are things that we can’t do from campus that they can. And Charlton is a great example of how service and community and respect for the people you serve translates into better health outcomes for all of us.”

As a person in recovery, Roberson understands the nuances of addiction more than most. Since becoming sober in 1996, he has dedicated his life to helping people heal. Alongside his work at NCHRC, he volunteers as a mobile crisis counselor in Wake County, providing overdose prevention education and low-barrier services to people in crisis.

“My motto is recovery out loud,” he shares. “Addiction thrives in secrecy. Letting people know recovery is achievable helps them.”

While Dasgupta will never get that opportunity with Tony, he believes his friend would be proud of the work he’s accomplished.

“But we still have a long way to go,” Dasgupta says. “We’re still losing way too many people we love in North Carolina. And I think with the tools that our lab and our community partners bring to the table, we are changing what’s happening on the ground here.”