‘One of my biggest fears is depending on it and getting addicted to it’: a fentanyl users fight to get out

LETHBRIDGE – Cocaine and oxycontin are only some of the drugs Samantha Bellhumer has used, however, they would never compare to fentanyl.

The 18-year-old will never forget her first time trying the toxic drug.

“I thought it was pretty scary,” she said. “I didn’t want to overdose, so I just took a little amount.”

Clean and sober for one year, Bellhumer promised herself she would never go back. Back to a time when using a dangerous substance like fentanyl was no big deal. A time when it was not an issue until the day she watched her own friend overdose and almost die.

“One of my biggest fears is depending on it and getting addicted to it,” she added.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "One of my biggest fears is depending on it and getting addicted to it," she added.

A life of sobriety led her on a mission to protect not only herself, but her loved ones, from fentanyl.

READ MORE: ‘It’s a big problem. People are dying’: Alberta health experts warn of fentanyl dangers

HIV Connection is hosting clinics in Lethbridge to help people like Bellhumer arm themselves with information about the deadly drug.

“Literally within a second, some people can overdose and die,” registered nurse Ashley Cherniwchan said. “People are dying with needles in their arms or with pill bottles still in their hand. It’s really so fast that a lot of people don’t have that time to recognize there’s a problem until it’s too late.”

Research shows that in Alberta, two-thirds of all overdoses are from recreational users. This is why HIV Connection is teaching people how to administer the only fentanyl antidote, naloxone, which restores normal breathing and consciousness shortly after being injected.

READ MORE: AHS activates Emergency Command Centre to battle fentanyl, make antidote more available

“We are now seeing fentanyl being cut into multiple other drugs,” Cherniwchan explained. “People are unwillingly or unknowingly taking fentanyl and that’s where we are seeing a lot of the overdose deaths.”

Marijuana and oxycontin are some of the drugs where traces of the fatal substance have been found.

Bellhumer knows first-hand how easy it is to fall into the fentanyl trap and come so close to losing a life.

“I think it it’s going to get worse, but I hope that people realize it’s killing people and they can die too if they don’t stop,” she said.

READ MORE: Killer Drug: what you need to know about fentanyl