Pubdate: Wed, 28 Dec 2016
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 The Calgary Sun
Contact: http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.calgarysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author: Bill Graveland
Page: A4

CHAFFIN TO PROVINCE: ENOUGH TALK ON FENTANYL

Calgary's police chief says the Alberta government has to take more
aggressive action on fentanyl if it wants to help addicts and families
who are being destroyed.

"It is a crisis," said Calgary police Chief Roger Chaffin. "Look at
the numbers of deaths. Numbers of homicides and traffic fatalities
don't come anywhere near the deaths associated with these drugs."

Chaffin said there is a huge demand for highly addictive opiods such
as fentanyl - a drug used as a painkiller for terminally ill cancer
patients and 100 times more powerful than heroin - or its more
powerful cousin carfentanyl. Reducing the supply increases the price
and make its users more desperate, he said.

"We can take off dealers until we're blue in the face and we do," he
said. "We exhaust a lot of time looking for supplies of these drugs
. but, until you deal with the demand side, until you help
communities recover from that, we'll be chasing it for a long time and
see a lot more tragedies before we see any change in the game."

Chaffin wants the government to come up with a broader strategy beyond
providing the opioid antidote naloxone and creating safe injection
sites.

"We need to get these people out of the lifestyle they're in and get
them into more healthy lifestyles, improve their families, improve
their wellness in this community and change the quality of life in
Calgary. That won't happen by one-off programs or relying on the
police to arrest dealers," he said. "If I get hold of you as an addict
and you want to get help and I tell you to come back in 30 days
because there's no treatment facilities - addicts don't come back in
30 days."

Alberta's associate health minister said the government is working on
the problem, but it can't solve it overnight.

I think a key thing for us to do is to continue to expand access to
opioid replacement therapy as well as other treatment models so that
people are able to get the treatment that they need," said Brandy Payne.

Calgary's Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre offers an 8-to-12 month
program for up to 30 addicted kids between the ages of 13 and 21, but
its founder says there are many more who require treatment.

"It's Russian roulette with these kids," said executive director Dean
Vause.

"It's powerful and it's killing them. It is the most painful, most
horrible part of my career - dealing with a parent who has lost a kid
to this ugly illness. The gravity of it is, some people are going to
die from this. It's out there and it's real."
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MAP posted-by: Matt