AIDS Moncton is calling on the province to fund the drug naloxone, which can counteract fentanyl overdoses, in order to make kits available through needle distribution programs across New Brunswick.
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“We know that it’s here and we personally know of people who have died from overdoses where fentanyl was mixed in their drugs,” said Debby Warren of AIDS Moncton.
Fentanyl is a highly potent opioid drug that Warren says is often used as a filler in other drugs. She said this can lead many recreational drug users to take it unknowingly, putting them at high risk of an overdose.
She said the province needs to act now and come up with the money to fund a free naloxone distribution program.
Warren said she’d like to see the drug provided for free from the provincial Department of Health and distributed through the province’s four AIDS organizations in Moncton, Fredericton, Saint John and Miramichi.
She said the organizations have already formed relationships with more than 2,000 IV drug users through their needs exchange programs.
“You know, I have a little challenge, as a charity why should we be expected to fund raise to get those resources and do the training when it’s a public health issue,” she said.
Julie Dingwell from AIDS Saint John said they raised enough money to buy and hand out about 50 of the $35 dollar naloxone kits and train its community partners and peer support workers on how to use the drug in the last few months, “but we need hundreds more” and she said they need provincial money.
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Warren said she would like funding to hand out kits in Moncton and she would also like to see everyone from taxi drivers to homeless shelter staff and volunteers be educated about fentanyl and how to administer naloxone to assist someone who is experiencing an overdose.
She said RCMP and paramedics in the province carry the drug and have been trained to administer it. But she believes that more front-line workers need assess to it, which is difficult because she says naloxone is not readily available at pharmacies across the province.
Warren currently sits on a fentanyl provincial task force and is one of five working groups in the province exploring fentanyl education, prevention and treatment in the province. She said it is still unclear how many people have died from fentanyl overdoses in New Brunswick since the province is still developing a reliable tracking system.
“Sometimes we are a little bit behind.”
Warren said the province, compared to other jurisdictions, is behind in providing the drug, training people to use it and effectively tracking the number of overdoses. She said Nova Scotia, for example, made naloxone take-home kits available in both Halifax and Cape Breton as part of a pilot project by the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
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In January, the province’s medical officer of health told Global News the province was consulting with other jurisdictions on whether other provinces made naloxone available to the public. As of Monday, no word on a decision has been made.
Joe Leger with the House of Nazareth shelter in Moncton is encouraged to hear that the province has developed a task force to deal with fentanyl overdoses in the province.
He said he is unsure of the shelter would be an appropriate place to hand out the naloxone kits, but he hopes to see the drug available for free soon. He said he fears the fentanyl crisis already seen in cities like Vancouver is on the horizon here.
“We know it’s here,” Leger said. “It hasn’t really made its home here, but we certainly are not naive. We know it’s coming and it is going to be a major health crisis when it does.”
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