The province’s overdose numbers have been released, revealing 291 suspected and confirmed overdoses occurred between Jan. 1, 2023, and Aug. 1 of this year according Saskatchewan’s Coroners Service.
Only 85 of the deaths have been confirmed as overdose deaths, with the remaining 199 being suspected overdose deaths that are still under investigation.
Not all of the death investigations for these years have been concluded and the projected numbers are not final. The numbers of suspected drug deaths are preliminary data and are expected to change when the cases have finished.
85 of the confirmed deaths are being labelled as accidental, six are being considered as suicide deaths, and one remains undetermined.
“This isn’t a surprise at all because we have seen no additional resources put in place to prevent any of this or to provide proper intervention for people who are using substances,” said Prairie Harm Reduction executive director Kayla DeMong.
2022 ended the year with 376 suspected and confirmed overdose deaths and 408 in 2021.
DeMong said that the province has put a focus on funding treatment facilities but very little investment in harm reduction resources and in resources to keep people alive who are using.
“We don’t have proper services to send people to and that is where this crisis is going to continue to escalate,” DeMong said. “We are in the middle of what is turning into a storm in our community with no real pathway out.”
DeMong noted that the province is dealing with a housing crisis and a larger homeless population than ever before.
“All of these things are affecting the same people.”
The Coroners Service has concluded that 69 of the deaths involved opioids, with 18 being women and 50 being men. 49 per cent of deaths were Caucasian people and 43 per cent were First Nations. The remainder were Metis or unknown.
58 have been confirmed to be deaths involving fentanyl.
Kindersley RCMP send out a warning in July after they had responded to seven suspected fentanyl-related calls between April and July. Three adult males died.
“Illicit drugs are not just a big city concern anymore,” said Kindersley RCMP Sergeant Kevin Peterson. “They impact communities all across Saskatchewan both big and small.”
54 deaths involved methamphetamine, although only 14 have been recorded in the death was the cause of solely meth. Meth was identified as only one of the drugs involved in the death in the remaining 40.
Prairie Harm Reduction, a safe consumption site in Saskatoon, said they identified a new substance in their facility that caused three overdoses on Monday.
DeMong said they are calling the new substance ‘pink fentanyl’.
While Prairie Harm staff and paramedics were able to reverse the overdose effects, DeMong said the overdoses were unusual to see in such a short period of time.
“Often when we see multiple overdoses during one shift at a time it is after hours,” DeMong explained. “Last year our stats showed that we experienced 11 overdoses in the safe consumption site over the whole year which is less than one a month, which is a really great average to have.”
Thanks to the facilities drug examining abilities, Prairie Harm was able to send out a public alert.
DeMong said that the province should be looking at safe supply programs and housing programs to limit the number of overdose deaths as the year continues.
“There is initiatives and services, there is funding for safe consumption sites in other provinces, and although it is limited, it’s a big difference from the zero we get here. Other provinces are running safe supply pilots and we are not.”
DeMong also noted that a 2022 homeless report showed that 86 per cent of people who identified as homeless were using substances.
“When it takes two months to get into treatment and you’re working with somebody who has unstable housing, the likelihood that they are going to end up in that treatment bed is highly unlikely,” DeMong said.
Saskatoon
Twenty-nine confirmed overdoses were recorded in Saskatoon in the first seven months of 2023.
On July 18, the provincial government announced that the city would extending their Overdose Outreach Team program, which began in December 2022, to reduce the risk of drug-related harms.
The teams are made up of a mental health and addictions counsellor from the SHA and a primary care paramedic from the Saskatoon Fire Department.
“They provide short-term counselling while connecting individuals who have recently experienced an overdose with other agencies for long-term needs, including mental health and addictions services, housing, medical intervention and financial services,” reads a government release.
Referral forms and phone numbers can be found here.
“I can have one hundred outreach workers, or five outreach workers but if I don’t have somewhere to send people, it doesn’t make a difference,” DeMong said, responding to the government’s outreach program extension.
Regina
Thirty-one of the confirmed overdoses were recorded in Regina.
The Regina Police Service sent out a public warning about the effects of drug consumption in July after three overdoses occurred in the city within 24 hours and 12 suspected overdoses from July 1 to July 19.
One of the deaths was reported from a tent encampment in front of city hall.
The same Overdose Outreach Team program was extended in Regina with SHA counsellors and Regina Fire Protective Services.
Other confirmed deaths were scattered across the province, including Humboldt, Lloydminster, Moosejaw and several First Nations.
While the province’s Overdose Outreach Team program is only available in Regina and Saskatoon, Sergeant Peterson told Global News that the province has a take-home naloxone project.
“They have locations across Saskatchewan including the rural areas, which includes Kindersley, where people can obtain a kit.”
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