A spike in overdoses during the weekend has authorities restating the life-threatening dangers of fentanyl.
Saskatoon police said three of the overdoses between May 5 and 7 were the result of alleged fentanyl use, including the one death.
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According to Troy Davies with MD Ambulance, it was an 18-year-old woman who died after going into cardiac arrest related to a suspected fentanyl overdose.
“These are kids, kids who need help and it’s pretty serious.”
Month-over-month, year-over-year – paramedics in Saskatoon are responding to more overdose calls and time isn’t on their side.
A lethal dose of fentanyl as small as a grain of salt can claim a life within minutes.
“The first negative consequence might be a fatal overdose,” Dr. Peter Butt, an addictions specialist with the Saskatoon Health Region, said.
“It’s a form of Russian roulette.”
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There were at least 51 drug overdose deaths in Saskatchewan in 2016, six which involved fentanyl.
In 2015, there were 22 fentanyl-related deaths in the province out of 116 drug overdose deaths.
“A lot of this comes from the mentality of course that they’re somewhat immoral and it won’t happen to them,” Butt said.
“It’s more about getting high than running risks.”
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These incidents also come just days after a new law was introduced country-wide, providing immunity to those who call 911 when someone is overdosing from facing simple drug possession charges of their own.
“If the Good Samaritan bill gives them some comfort that the police that aren’t going to charge them well that’s great,” Supt. Dave Haye with the Sakatoon Police Service’s criminal investigations section, said.
“We would rather have them engage us and survive an overdose than not engage us and die.”
READ MORE: Canadian mayors launch task force to respond to fentanyl crisis
Police said they are doing everything in their power to stop the drug from making its way here from the West Coast but it’s still not enough.
Canada’s big city mayors have launched a task force in response to the fentanyl crisis across the country.
The task force will look at sharing front-line experiences and best practices to deal with the crisis and build a unified solution.
“There’s a bigger issue happening here,” Davies said.
“It has to go back to mental health, addictions and I know there’s a lot of champions in the community that are trying to address but we’re still seeing it.”
READ MORE: ‘It would have saved my son’: Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act becomes law in Canada
With overdose levels at a critical state, there are now renewed calls for more public education about the dangers of the drug and better access to addictions services.
Butt said he’d like to see take-home naloxone kits, which reverse the effects of an opioid, widely available, they would be everywhere a first-aid kit would be including high schools – anything to save a life.
The naxolone kits have been installed on Saskatoon fire trucks.
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