Fraser Health has issued an alert for drug users in north Surrey, after 12 people reported overdoses in a four-hour period on Friday night.
Health authority officials said that may not be the total number of overdoses that occurred overnight, as not all incidents are reported.
Officials said they were unable to provide any identifying characteristics of the substance involved.
Surrey fire Chief Len Garis said first responders first noticed the spike around 5 p.m.
“Our software program that we use that detects these clusters sent alerts,” he said.
“That software tells us if there’s more than four overdoses within a one kilometer period within a four hour period. And that alerts Fraser Health, their surge teams, it alerts the RCMP and the Surrey Fire Department that this event is going on.”
Garis said as far as he knows, no one died in any of the overdoses.
The health authority is asking drug users to take extra precautions, including carrying naloxone and refraining from using drugs while alone.
Fraser Health is also advising anyone using drugs to have their drugs tested at Fraser Health’s Safepoint supervised consumption site, to avoid mixing drugs and to “try to use a consistent, reliable dealer.”
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