According to Prairie Harm Reduction, multiple overdoses have occurred every day recently amid suspicions that some drugs being sold as fentanyl in Saskatoon and nearby areas actually contain the even more dangerous Carfentanil.
“Where is the leadership? Where is the emergency plan from the Sask. Party Government that we so desperately need to save lives?” said Betty Nippi-Albright, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Mental Health & Addictions. “The Sask. Party has done nothing while poisonous drugs have poured into Saskatoon’s streets and people have died.
“They refuse to take emergency action even as we know these more poisonous drugs are difficult to reverse with naloxone or require multiple does of naloxone.
“I am here today calling, again, for action, to save the lives of young people — our future — who are dying of drug overdoses every day.”
Nippi-Albright is demanding an emergency response plan that:
- Implements real-time drug alert systems and overdose data;
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Develops and implements an emergency action plan to fund frontline services;
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Focuses on funding overdose prevention and mental health support
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Improves tracking and public health reporting of drug toxicity deaths.
The drugs in question are purple and/or brown in colour and chunk-like, according to the alert, which is to remain in effect until Friday.
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