Pubdate: Wed, 27 Jan 2016
Source: Medicine Hat News (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.medicinehatnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1833
Author: Charles Lefebvre
Page: B5

ACTION NEEDED TO SLOW DOWN, OR STOP, SPREAD OF KILLER DRUG FENTANYL

There really is no other way to describe it. Fentanyl use in the 
province has reached the crisis stage.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which can be up to 100 times more 
powerful than opioids such as oxycodone, has seemingly become a drug 
of choice throughout the province. It has taken hold in communities 
across Alberta, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

According to statistics provided by Alberta Health Services at the 
recent Palliser Triangle Health Advisory Council meeting, six deaths 
were linked to fentanyl in the province in 2011, and the number grew 
steadily from there. In 2012, 29 deaths were reported, with the 
number spiking to 66 in 2013, 120 in 2014 and 213 deaths reported 
from January to October of last year (of those deaths, nine were in 
the South Zone, which Hatters reside).

This past October, Medicine Hat Police Service S/Sgt. Jason Graham 
with the Major Crimes Section reported they had been seizing more 
fentanyl in drug busts this year, and have changed the way they 
handle drug seizures to reduce the chances officers accidentally come 
in contact with the drug.

Health Minister Sarah Hoffman is also working to deal with the 
fentanyl crisis in the province, hoping to develop a national 
strategy to combat its use at a meeting with health ministers in 
B.C., because if fentanyl is affecting Alberta, it won't be long 
until it takes hold in other provinces.

In order to combat the drug, several steps need to be taken. 
Education needs to be at the forefront of the fight against fentanyl. 
Albertans need to know the effects of the drug, the danger it 
possesses, and what can happen if you overdose on it. Some of this is 
happening already and is visible around the province.

Another step to deal with the drug has been distributing Naloxone 
kits to EMS and police to help counteract the effects of the drug. 
Many law enforcement agencies now have the drug which can help 
reverse the effects of an overdose, which will hopefully reduce the 
number of deaths resulting from fentanyl use. It's an important step to take.

The most important step the province has to take, however, is to 
expand and fund treatment for addiction to opioids. Opioid addiction 
has been on the rise in Canada, and the distribution and creation of 
fentanyl on the street is the end result of an opioid addiction 
crisis. There needs to be more resources available for those who are 
addicted to opioids of all kinds, to prevent them from believing 
getting pain medication from a dealer, where they don't know what is 
mixed within, is an option.

Fentanyl is at a crisis level in the province, and cooperation from 
everyone, from citizens to police to government, is needed to help 
combat the issue. We can't keep losing more lives to addiction.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom