Tank: Overdose scourge — 180 in 10 days — swamps Saskatoon

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We sometimes hear that we fail to sufficiently appreciate our firefighters.

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And you can imagine that few firefighters pursued their career to spend so much time trying to revive people who have overdosed on drugs.

Yet, given the scourge of overdoses swamping Saskatoon, a name switch from Saskatoon Fire Department to Saskatoon Fentanyl Department might be appropriate. Clearly, firefighters spend far more time wrestling with the deadly drug epidemic than they do battling blazes.

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And we’re seen some scary numbers this month.

From 7 a.m. Wednesday to 7 a.m. Thursday, the fire department responded to 37 overdoses, according to an alert from the province. That’s more than one and a half overdoses an hour. And that’s not the most frightening part.

“Several suspicious deaths have occurred in Saskatoon; these deaths may be connected to the overdoses,” the alert explains. “Other agencies may have responded to additional overdoses in the area.

“It is not known if the newly reported overdoses are from the same substances as previously reported, or a new batch of concern.”

So not only might an undetermined number of people be dying, these overdoses only account for the ones attended to by the fire department. And the source of the overdoses is unknown.

But those 37 recorded overdoses eclipse the previous grim record of 25 over 24 hours from Feb. 25 to 26. That topped 23 overdoses from Feb. 28 to March 1.

Then, from March 1 to Wednesday, the fire department responded to an average of 19 overdoses each day. That’s 180 recorded overdoses in about 10 days.

Fentanyl is believed to be behind at least some of the overdoses, but, chillingly, the toxic drugs may also contain benzodiazepines or “other unknown substances.”

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Naloxone worked to alleviate the overdoses, but multiple doses were required. And naloxone does not work on benzodiazepines.

Potential users are advised to be wary of light pink chunk or dark purple chunk. We know that thanks to testing done at Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon on Feb. 26. That’s the same Prairie Harm Reduction the provincial government refuses to fund because the province opposes supervised drug consumption.

“Dangerous drugs are in the area,” says the Saskatchewan Health Authority alert, which remains in effect until Wednesday at noon. “There is a higher risk of overdose and death from drugs in the city of Saskatoon.”

So while the province sticks with its partisan position, Prairie Harm Reduction is struggling to save lives. The non-profit agency, located in the Pleasant Hill neighbourhood near St. Paul’s Hospital, issued an urgent appeal for donations on Wednesday that underlined the dire situation.

Prairie Harm Reduction wants to raise $5,000 to purchase 100 boxes containing two doses each of nasal naloxone. The appeal explains the nasal variety is 10 times stronger than the injected version, which the message explains is not working very well on these narcotics.

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The apparent resistance of these drugs to life-saving treatments is disturbing. But so is the silence from the provincial government and Premier Scott Moe, who jumped to talk about drugs when Donald Trump raised phantom fentanyl entering the U.S. from Canada.

The NDP Opposition called last week for an emergency plan to address Saskatoon’s “horrific drug crisis.” In case you’re wondering, Lori Carr carries the title of minister of mental health and addictions.

And where is Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab? Surely this deadly peril qualifies as a threat worth at least a statement of concern.

Toxic drugs have killed 435 people in Saskatoon over the last five years (well below the 739 in Regina) with three more lives lost so far this year — but that second number only reflects those confirmed by the province’s coroners service.

Meanwhile, these overdoses are happening in the wake of the province announcing in late February severe penalties targeting the production and trafficking of fentanyl and methamphetamine, including fines of up to $1 million.

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Judging by the overdose tsunami, that threat appears to be failing as badly as the province’s plan to focus on addiction treatment as we’ve seen with its facility in Lumsden and the limited intake of patients.

No more evidence or overdoses should be needed to convince the government a new direction is needed.

Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

ptank@postmedia.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK

@thinktanksk.bsky.social

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