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.
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MAP posted-by: Matt