20 Thursday, December 1, 2016
Special report: Dangers of Fentanyl
‘Overdoses used to stand out’ public safety
first responders
An ‘epidemic’ of fentanylrelated deaths may only be getting worse
Go to uffw.ca/videos to see the latest commercials from the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg’s public safety campaign about the dangers of fentanyl and carfentanil.
Shane Gibson The rash of suspected fentanylrelated deaths making news in Winnipeg is just the tip of the iceberg of a problem that’s only getting worse, according to some on the frontlines. Winnipeg firefighter paramedic Derek Balcaen says for every death that makes headlines, there are several others who first responders are able to save before they become a grim front page statistic. “Overdoses used to stand out,” says the 11-year veteran of the Winnipeg Firefighter Paramedic Service. “But over the last six months the prevalence of these calls has shot through the roof
Statistics show the number of fentanyl-related deaths in Winnipeg rose from 13 in 2014 to 20 in 2015. Istock
to the point where our crews are going on these calls basically every day. “And it’s not just only in the drug houses; we’re seeing this at Friday night parties in Royalwood just as much as we’re seeing it in the North End and everywhere in between.” Statistics from Manitoba’s Of-
fice of the Chief Medical Examiner show the number of fentanyl-related deaths in Winnipeg rose from 13 in 2014 to 20 in 2015. The number of victims is expected to rise again in 2016 with nine fentanyl-related deaths already confirmed in the first five months, and a string of new suspected cases reported in
November alone. The opiate — 100 times more powerful than morphine — is so addictive Balcaen says crews are starting to see the same overdose victims multiple times, and says first responders were recently called to a home twice in the same day after the girlfriend of man who’d overdosed in the morning
overdosed herself hours later. Stories like those don’t surprise Dr. Ginette Poulin from the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba. “What many of my patients would tell me is that if they see that people are overdosing... for them, that just means that’s the good stuff,” she says. And to make matters worse
Poulin says she’s now seeing drugs like crystal meth, cocaine — and even pot — being laced with fentanyl, meaning users with no tolerance to opiates can overdose unknowingly. Balcaen calls what he’s seeing an epidemic, and it’s led the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg to start a union-funded public safety campaign to educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl and the even more powerful carfentanil, a large animal tranquilizer 100 times more lethal than fentanyl. “The main point is to make sure parents are talking to their kids about this,” says Balcaen. “This is not your average recreational drug — it’s different and it is lethal.”
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