The fentanyl test strips are available for take-home at community-based agencies in Vernon, Kelowna, Penticton, Kamloops, Merritt, Cranbrook and Nelson.

For the first time in British Columbia, the public will be able to check drugs at home with take-home fentanyl test strips.

The grieving parents of a 19-year-old who died from fentanyl on June 29 are calling on the Quebec government to prevent overdoses.

"If we weren't using the strips at all, zero percent of the people would know what's in their drugs."

Health Canada is warning there's a possibility for a small number of test strips that detect fentanyl in street drugs to produce a false-negative result.

"The goal would be to save lives, get better data and hold their dealers accountable."

Special strips that test drugs for the presence of fentanyl won't be widely available any time soon.

Numbers released today by the government show that in April, May and June there were 1,898 such emergency department visits - a 76 per cent increase from the same time period last year.