Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jul 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: John Colebourn

FENTANYL IN CRACK 'ALARMING'

Officials warn drug users in Surrey's Whalley area after 36 overdoses

This is very new, as typically fentanyl is put in heroin. It makes it
more problematic and more challenging for front-line
service-providers.

Health-care workers and the RCMP on Sunday canvassed Surrey's Whalley
area warning people of a disturbing new trend in which crack cocaine
is being laced with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl.

With 36 overdoses over the weekend in Whalley, Mounties, health-care
and social workers walked through the gritty area putting up warning
notices, handing out pamphlets and talking to drug addicts and the
homeless about the critical situation.

"It is alarming, the number of overdoses this weekend," said Fraser
Health chief medical officer Dr. Victoria Lee.

Lee said at first they didn't know what type of street drugs were
tainted, but said by Sunday they had lab results showing crack being
sold in Whalley that had high traces of both fentanyl and acetyl
fentanyl, an even more potent synthetic opioid. Among the overdoses
this weekend, Lee said, fortunately no one died. But she said they
needed to use a large amount of Naloxone, which reverses the effects
of opioids, to stop users from dying.

In past overdoses and deaths linked to fentanyl, it was often mixed in
with substances like heroin, Lee notes. But seeing fentanyl mixed in
with crack is new and very concerning, she said.

"In terms of advice, the best prevention is to avoid using crack
cocaine altogether," she said. Anyone who fails to heed the warnings,
she stresses, should have a Naloxone kit and not use street drugs alone.

Once they began seeing the large number of overdoses, Lee said they
checked with other jurisdictions around B.C.

"We are not seeing a big spike in other regions," she said. In
Vancouver, Hugh Lampkin, spokesman for the Vancouver Area Network of
Drug Users, said that hearing fentanyl is now being put in crack is
worrisome and unprecedented. "That has the potential for a lot of
trouble," he said.

Shayne Williams, executive director of the Lookout Emergency Aid
Society, said hearing that crack is now tainted with fentanyl will
lead to more overdoses and deaths if it isn't addressed immediately.
"It is incredibly alarming if you are a drug user right now," he said.

At the Lookout's Whalley facility, Williams said staff had to deal
with 17 overdoses of the 36 reported in the area.

"This is very new, as typically fentanyl is put in heroin," he said.
"It makes it more problematic and more challenging for front-line
service-providers. As fentanyl turns up in these stimulants like
cocaine, there will be a call for safe-inhalation sites."

James Booth, 55, who is homeless and lives on the sidewalk along 135A
Street in Whalley, said it has been heartbreaking to see friends and
acquaintances taken to hospital. "They didn't know fentanyl is being
put in crack," said Booth. "People are being warned (now)."

Booth said he doesn't do hard drugs, but has a Naloxone kit ready if
one of his friends has an overdose. "I have used it many times," he
said.

RCMP Asst. Commissioner Bill Fordy said in a statement: "We know that
the presence of substances, which are 50 to 1,000 times more toxic
than other narcotics, can increase the risk of overdose. Drugs can
also be cross-contaminated with these other products, which means even
non-opiate-users may succumb to an overdose."
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MAP posted-by: Matt