After the tragic loss of her son, Jackson TaeSun Leddon, Dr. Jeanie Chung, a dermatologist, turned her grief into something productive, with the goal of making fentanyl testing discreet, convenient and accurate. Chung lives in both Salida and Denver.

Her testing kit, approximately the size of a lighter, comes with the fentanyl test strip already inserted, the correct volume of water preloaded into the kit and a compartment for crushing and storing the pills that are to be tested. It can be carried in a pocket or attached to a keychain.

A traditional test requires setup and breakdown of all the various components, and if anything is wrong, including the testing strip being inserted at the wrong angle or the wrong volume of water, the results are inaccurate.

“Having the (testing) equipment in a social setting is not discreet,” Chung said. “My goal is to make testing convenient for recreational drug users – to have on hand, and not have excuses not to test.”

Her product has a stable shelf life, so “if the occasion arises, people can test accurately.”

Although it is not yet available to the general public, Chung said she is applying for grants through the National Institute of Drug Abuse, which she said “falls under the umbrella” of the National Institutes of Health. According to the NIH, there were 16,706 overdose deaths related to prescription opiates, primarily fentanyl, in 2021, the last year data is available for.

She hopes to have her product available to the public by the end of 2024.

Chung said that in areas like Salida, community members and parents often feel they’re “in a bubble” and never dream of losing their child to fentanyl.

“It’s important to educate our kids; we can’t ignore this problem or pretend our kids aren’t involved,” Chung said.

She is currently collecting funds online to complete her product and make it available to the public. Anyone who would like to donate may do so online.