Public warned about street drug
Fentanyl can easily lead to overdose, death
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A drug at least partially responsible for three deaths in the territory since 2012 has prompted the NWT chief public health officer to issue an alert about its dangers.
Dr. Andre Corriveau released the alert on Monday, which states the public needs to be aware of the dangers associated with the potentially deadly street drug fentanyl, commonly known among drug users as "greenies."
The drug has been appearing in green, aspirin-sized pills and powder form and has been sold as Oxycontin, heroin and other substances, according to the alert. Even small amounts can result in an overdoes, and people can die on their first usage.
"I checked with the coroner's office and we had at least one death last year and possibly three related to this," Corriveau told Yellowknifer yesterday.
Corriveau was first alerted to the problem when he found out there were sharp increases in fentanyl use in Alberta and B.C.
"In British Columbia there has been an increase in fentanyl-related deaths from 12 to 88 in the past year from this drug," Corriveau said, adding that a lot of the NWT's illegal drugs likely come from those provinces.
Time is of the essence for overdose victims, said Corriveau, adding that prompt treatment can mean the difference between life and death. Symptoms of an overdoes include slowed or no breathing, blue lips and fingernails, not moving, choking, unconsciousness as well as cold and clammy skin.
Corriveau said it is also important for addicts to understand there is help available.
"We have some physicians who have taken special training to help people move to a safer narcotic like methadone and then be weaned off on a gradual basis," he said.
"But they have to ask for it."
Dr. Jennifer Harris, a family physician who also practises addiction medicine, said she has treated patients who admitted they had taken fentanyl.
"We've been aware that these street oxys have been available (in Yellowknife) for about a year," Harris said.
"My patients have been talking to me about that so we have been treating them with methadone for the use of this particular drug."
Harris said from what she can tell people are snorting the pills and taking them orally rather than injecting them.
While fentanyl is a narcotic used in the hospitals to combat chronic pain, doctors try not to prescribe it often because of its strength, said Harris.
She added the drug is used mostly by young adults and those who have become addicted to prescribed opiods.
"It's people who have used them as a party drug or have struggled with opioid addiction from being prescribed opioids and are looking at ways of trying to carry on using opioids without having a prescription," said Harris.
"I would say the population of people using them are from their 20s to mid 30s."
She pointed out that fentanyl is more dangerous when mixed with alcohol and other drugs.
Cathy Menard, the NWT chief coroner said there have been three fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the territory since 2012, two of them in Yellowknife. Two of those deaths were the result of combining fentanyl with other drugs and the third was a fentanyl-only overdose, said Menard.
RCMP seized 88 fentanyl pills during a drug raid in Yellowknife last August and two people were charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.
An RCMP source told Yellowknifer the pills can cost between $60 and $100 on the street in the NWT.
