Pubdate: Sat, 05 Jul 2014
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2014 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Graeme Hamilton
Page: A4

QUEBEC WORKS TO HALT TORRENT OF OVERDOSES

MONTREAL * With fatal overdoses in Montreal up sevenfold over the 
past two months, Quebec public-health authorities are scrambling to 
stem what they say is an unprecedented tide of drug-induced death.

The director of public health for Montreal published new statistics 
this week showing that 13 people died of opiate overdoses in May and 
another five in June. Normally the city sees an average of 1.3 
overdose deaths a month.

The sharp increase, believed to be tied to a more potent drug supply 
on the city's streets, has prompted the provincial government to 
approve accelerated training so paramedics will be equipped to 
administer the drug naloxone, which restores normal breathing in 
overdose victims who have suffered respiratory failure.

The training should begin Monday, an aide to Health Minister Gaetan 
Barrette said Friday.

People working with drug addicts say additional measures are needed, 
including programs like those in Ontario and British Columbia that 
train drug users so they can inject naloxone if someone suffers an 
overdose in their presence. They also say Quebec should speed up 
efforts to establish supervised injection sites in Montreal.

Guy-Pierre Levesque, executive director of Meta d'Ame, a non-profit 
group that provides services to opiate addicts in east-end Montreal, 
said he expects an announcement from the government shortly on a 
pilot project providing overdose kits to users.

"Unfortunately, it takes deaths to get these programs implemented," 
he said. Mr. Levesque said three people who use his organization's 
services have died of overdoses since May, including one man in his 
40s who died on site.

"They were good people," he said. "They had an addiction problem, but 
they were good people."

Public-health officials were first alerted to the problem in mid-May 
by Martin Page from Dopamine, a group working in infectious disease 
prevention among intravenous drug users. Mr. Page said regular users 
of his facility suddenly stopped showing up. There was talk of 
overdoses and he was able to confirm that four people in the 
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood Dopamine serves of public health, 
said an investigation was launched and it became clear that Montreal 
was experiencing something unprecedented.

"We had never been informed of such a serious situation. There were 
times when there was concern, but never on this scale," she said.

In addition to the 18 deaths, the health agency is investigating 35 
non-fatal overdoses. The people affected ranged in age from 20 to 65 
and they had consumed heroin, cocaine or counterfeit opiates.

Dr. Morissette said there is some evidence that heroin has been laced 
with the potent prescription opiate fentanyl, but in other cases it 
seems a purer form of heroin prompted the overdoses.

A general shift among drug users from cocaine to opiates, which carry 
a greater risk of respiratory failure, also explains why so many 
overdoses have been fatal.

"It's being made available cheaper, stronger and easier to get hooked 
on, and it brings a lot of customers," Mr. Levesque said.

"Because behind that, we're talking about people trying to make money 
selling drugs to other people."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom