Pubdate: Tue, 03 Mar 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Maura Forrest
Page: S1

CAMPAIGN AIMS TO MAKE PUBLIC AWARE OF FENTANYL RISK

Vancouver police and provincial health officials have launched a new 
campaign to raise awareness about fentanyl, an opioid 50 to 100 times 
more powerful than morphine that they say is responsible for an 
increasing number of deaths in British Columbia.

Last year, fentanyl was detected in a quarter of the province's 336 
drug overdose deaths, a sharp increase from just 5 per cent of deaths 
in 2012, the officials said in a news release. Most of those deaths 
were men aged 20 to 49.

The drug is prescribed as a patch to treat severe pain, but is 
showing up in liquid, powder or pill form and in illegal drugs such as heroin.

Vancouver Police Department Constable Sandra Glendinning said drug 
users may not know they are buying drugs laced with fentanyl. 
"They're not realizing what they're taking, and that's what's leading 
to some of these deaths," she said at a press conference on Monday.

Constable Glendinning said police have limited information about who 
is producing illicit fentanyl, or how many dealers are out there. 
However, they plan to make arrests on Tuesday related to the drug.

The awareness campaign, which includes a website 
(www.knowyoursource.ca) and Facebook advertising, will target 
recreational users rather than people who take illegal drugs daily. 
Fentanyl overdoses have typically been associated with heroin use, 
but the drug is also showing up mixed with marijuana, cocaine and oxycodone.

Mark Lysyshyn, the medical health officer with Vancouver Coastal 
Health, said harm-reduction sites have already raised awareness about 
the drug among users in areas such as Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. 
He believes the general population is at greater risk.

"Up until now, there's been no awareness in the broader community," 
he said. "The people that are dying of this, they're largely not 
injection drug users."

He said Insite, a supervised injection facility in the Downtown 
Eastside, is a success with respect to fentanyl. This past October, 
it issued an alert after 30 overdoses in a weekend were linked to a 
drug labelled as heroin that was actually a mixture of fentanyl and caffeine.

Within a few days, the overdoses declined. At Insite, users who 
overdose are treated with naloxone, an injectable medication that 
reverses the effects of the overdose. The Provincial Health Services 
Authority runs a program called Take Home Naloxone that provides kits 
to people so they can treat overdoses as soon as they happen.

"They are seeing overdoses related to fentanyl, but the people are 
not dying," Dr. Lysyshyn said.

However, both Insite and Take Home Naloxone are targeted at regular 
drug users, not recreational users. That's why Dr. Lysyshyn believes 
it is crucial to spread the message about the risks of fentanyl to 
the public at large.

The campaign says the signs of a fentanyl overdose include severe 
sleepiness, trouble breathing, clammy skin, and trouble walking or 
talking. Anyone who suspects an overdose is urged to call 911 right 
away. It says people should not use drugs when they are alone, should 
start with a small amount and avoiding mixing substances, including alcohol.

But Hugh Lampkin, president of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug 
Users, said not enough has been done to address the problem among 
regular users, whom he believes are the most likely to overdose on the drug.

"The daily drug users are at a greater chance of getting their hands 
on it and having an overdose," he said.

He said the awareness campaign was a long time coming.

"This problem has been going on for a while now," he said. "It's good 
that they're doing it, but I think it's a little bit too late. It's 
only after a few deaths that they start warning people."

The coroner's office has not released information about what other 
drugs were detected with fentanyl in last year's overdose deaths. 
That means it is impossible to say whether any recreational marijuana 
users, for instance, have died from a fentanyl overdose.

Dr. Lysyshyn said Vancouver Coastal Health has started collecting 
urine samples from people who visit harm-reduction sites to get a 
better idea of which drugs are being laced with the narcotic.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom