Police cadets administer naloxone to man in distress

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This article was published 09/03/2023 (1280 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police cadets helped a man experiencing an overdose of an opioid street drug mixture Wednesday night.

The Winnipeg Police Service said Thursday the cadets were patrolling downtown, near Edmonton Street and Graham Avenue, at about 9:50 p.m., when a distressed man in a wheelchair approached them.

The 34-year-old said he had just used “down” — a potent street mixture typically made of fentanyl and/or heroin, with a stimulant such as caffeine or ephedrine — moments prior, according to police.

He then lost consciousness. The cadets called for an ambulance before giving the man four doses of naloxone, a medication that reverses the effect of opioid overdoses.

The man slowly regained consciousness and paramedics arrived to take him to hospital, police said.

Police recommend drug users never take substances alone — and carry naloxone if opioids could be present.

At a Thursday news conference about a large heroin bust, WPS organized crime Insp. Elton Hall said police are seeing the drug as part of the fentanyl and opioid crisis.

“We knew it was here — we knew about ‘purple down,’ we talked to people in the community who were using it and advocates and people in the health system,” he said of heroin, specifically.

— Staff