Pubdate: Sat, 05 Aug 2017 Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON) Copyright: 2017 Metroland Media Group Ltd. Contact: http://www.therecord.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225 Page: A10 CAMBRIDGE FACES FENTANYL CRISIS The news coming out about the fentanyl crisis in Cambridge is overwhelmingly bad as well as heartbreaking. People are overdosing on the dangerous drug, which is 100 times more powerful than morphine. People are dying from it, too, often taking heroin or cocaine without realizing fentanyl has been added. In just a few months, the problem - long associated with Canada's West Coast - has escalated to the point that many residents in downtown Galt no longer venture out at night out of fear of encountering comatose drug users and used syringes. At least one resident is threatening to move out. Indeed, local coroner Hank Nykamp recently declared: "Cambridge is becoming the drug capital of Ontario." It's a moot point whether Cambridge is more fentanyl-ridden than any other place in the province. But the doctor is right to be pressing the alarm button on the issue and demanding concerted action to deal with it. And that brings us to the one piece of good news to come out about this crisis. Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig has pulled together a task force with the goal of turning back the tide of fentanyl overdoses and deaths washing over his city. To be sure, in more normal times Cambridge city hall focuses mainly on roads, parks, arenas and libraries - leaving policing, social services and public health to other levels of government. But this is a full-blown emergency. Dr. Nykamp says the number of drug-overdose-related deaths has doubled in Cambridge over the past year, with three people dying in one month alone in 2017. In the face of this, the mayor deserves applause for his leadership and a response that has been months in the works. It's also positive that he sees this not primarily as a criminal matter but as a "societal issue." Absolutely. We need to see fentanyl users as people first and foremost - - not as drug addicts or criminals. They need healing, not punishment. There are complicated reasons why people turn to dangerous drugs to face their inner demons and make it through a day. And so it makes perfect sense for the mayor to include public health and social service officials and the Chamber of Commerce as well as police on his task force. Let's hope this task force is just the start of an aggressive push-back against harmful drugs, not only in Cambridge but Waterloo Region. Let's also hope it holds its first meeting before the end of this month and gets working. One option that must be considered in the weeks ahead is opening safe injection sites for drug users. It's a controversial response that some will oppose. But safe injection sites in Cambridge and other parts of the region could provide one piece in solving this drug puzzle. Since January, 39 people have died of suspected drug overdoses in the region, and many of the overdoses were linked to fentanyl. We need action, for the sake of human lives and the health of this entire community. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt