Families plead for fentanyl help

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This article was published 20/10/2016 (3330 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Families who’ve lost relatives to fentanyl made a pilgrimage to the legislature Thursday to muster political muscle and save other addicts from fatal overdoses.

Arlene Last-Kolb lost her son, 24-year-old Jessie, to a fentanyl overdose two years ago and along with a dozen others who’ve lost relatives, she’s seeking political support for better health services.

“This is not a political debate. It’s a community debate,” Last-Kolb said after attending a legislative debate in which the Opposition NDP introduced a resolution calling for a half dozen measures to prevent fatal overdoses and clean up addicts.

Fentanyl is a powerful opioid prescribed to help patients manage chronic pain, but it’s highly addictive.

Dealers use it to lace street drugs and get addicts hooked. Even a taste of it can be fatal.

Last-Kolb and other families sat in the gallery listening to the NDP put the issue before the Pallister government.

The NDP urged the province to adopt an anti-opioid strategy to stem the rising number of fentanyl-related deaths.

“The number of overdoses and deaths related to the use of this highly potent opioid are continuing to increase dramatically across Canada and in Manitoba,” said the NDP’s Matt Wiebe.

“Last year, 29 deaths occurred in Manitoba as a result of fentanyl use. That’s nearly double the average rate over the five years from 2009 to 2013 and it’s devastating for the families affected by this epidemic,” Wiebe said.

The NDP resolution didn’t make it to a vote, but the families were relieved their message was heard.

“I got the sense they all agree on that, but the government wants to wait until there is this meeting in Ottawa about it,” Last-Kolb said.

Ottawa has announced a commitment for a two-day conference on the opioid crisis Nov. 18-19 to be hosted by Health Minister Jane Philpott.

Manitoba will wait for the federal meeting before adopting further measures.

Recently, Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen committed the province to expand the availability of the antidote kits for fentanyl overdoses by setting up a provincewide distribution system.

Goertzen has said he expects more than 3,500 kits containing the antidote naloxone to be distributed annually within Manitoba.

Families who’ve lost relatives say the need is urgent, and they’re uneasy with any delay.

“The concern I have is the longer we wait, the more people we lose,” Last-Kolb said.

“The antidote exists, and it needs to be distributed to anyone who wants it. The services exist but they need to be improved,” Last Kolb said.

“And there should be a Good Samaritan law so when people call 911, they don’t face prosecution,” said Last-Kolb who’s been working with the NDP’s James Allum on pushing for such measures.

Wiebe called on the province Thursday to reduce wait times for assessment and treatment services for fentanyl users and to improve information-sharing protocols between health-care professionals and law enforcement as determined by the fentanyl task force.

The NDP also called for the province to install drop boxes for needles and build a safe injection site in Winnipeg.

Meanwhile, a Winnipeg pharmacy has signed up to sell kits that can warn people if their drugs are laced with fentanyl.

A single kit will sell for $5 at Brothers Pharmacy on Selkirk Avenue Owner Michael Watts said dealers lace drugs with fentanyl to get customers hooked on opiates.

“Dealers don’t make a whole lot of money (on cocaine). The real money now is in opiates,” Watts said.

The $5 cost “is a small price to pay to make sure drugs are clean,” Watts said.

The kit works much the same way as a pregnancy test. A stick is dipped into a tiny portion of drugs, such as marijuana or cocaine, mixed with water. One line means negative, two lines means fentanyl is present.

Brothers began to focus on addictions treatment three years ago.

Brothers has been approached by a group called the Addict’s Mom about purchasing the test strips.

The Winnipeg Police Service has announced its officers will be equipped with the antidote.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca