Fentanyl death toll hits 270 in Alberta, sowing destruction in families
原始发布日期： 2016-02-02 发布者：李方字变大 字变小
Fentanyl death toll hits 270 in Alberta, sowing destruction in families of many demographics
The province must step up the battle against fentanyl as the death tolls from overdoses continue to soar. Jim Wells / Calgary Sun Alberta’s ministers of health and justice said they understood fentanyl’s “dangerous and serious” impact on the province, as they vowed to continue working to abate the unprecedented drug crisis. “The devastating toll that fentanyl continues to have in our province is deeply concerning,” Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said in a statement. “We are continually looking at ways we can prevent more deaths, both in the area of harm reduction, but also in the area of addiction prevention and treatment.” The death toll comes amid efforts to more widely dispense a life-saving medicine that reverses fentanyl overdoses and open more spaces for addictions treatment. Health officials in southern Alberta are working to open a suboxone clinic in Cardston near the Blood Tribe, which has been hit hard by fentanyl deaths, said Dr. Michael Trew, a senior health official involved in the province’s response to the crisis. The clinic, which may open in the next two or three months, would have doctors, nurses and addictions counsellors under one roof where users could access suboxone, an opioid replacement drug similar to methadone. The death toll from fentanyl last year, 272 Albertans, falls short of earlier forecasts that 300 would die by the end of December. But it’s far too soon to determine whether the trend is slowing down, said Trew. “This literally needs to be tracked over years,” said Trew, adding that deaths from all opioids has been increasing for well over a decade. “If we make a dent in fentanyl, is it just showing up in something else? That’s the real challenge that we need to track … for a number of years.” Fentanyl, an opioid up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, has exploded into Alberta’s illicit drug trade in recent years, with 120 deaths in 2014 and 272 a year later. Pills sold on the street are produced by underground dealers with no controls over dosage, increasing the risks of overdose and death. The drug has spread devastation and heartache in families of all walks of life, in every corner of the province. On the Blood Tribe southwest of Lethbridge, Tim Eagle Speaker, 46, and Roxanne Blood, 41, left behind four children when they died from fentanyl overdoses at a house party one night in March 2015. “They really cared for their family. Close-knitted,” Rex Day Chief, a friend, told the Herald after the parents died. In Calgary, 19-year-old Rory McCann took a lethal dose of fentanyl in January 2015. McCann, a talented fly fisherman who once served as a fishing guide for visiting members of the Toronto Argonauts, had suffered from a cocaine addiction and took a downer to get to sleep, but he overdosed and died. Danny Schulz, a 25-year-old Edmonton man, was recovering from heroin and oxycodone addictions, with plans to sign up for the army, when he relapsed in April 2014 and died from a fentanyl overdose, according to the Edmonton Journal. His parents don’t believe he knew he was taking the drug. “There are too many lives that aren’t here anymore, and who knows what they could have been or could have done,” said Dana Parkes, a Calgary mother whose 19-year-old son Tristan died from the drug in September 2015. “You don’t get to see those people any more. You don’t get to hear their voice, you don’t get to hug them. You don’t get to rub their face or tell them to get a haircut or shave their face,” Parkes said, adding she wonders whether Tristan knew how much his parents loved him. “I wish he knew he was worth it … He was worth it to live, not just for us but for himself.” Government and health officials have been attempting to slow the pace of fentanyl deaths, though they have faced criticisms they were slow to act. Naloxone, a life-saving antidote that reverses fentanyl overdoses, has become more readily available to Albertans in recent months, something that is expected to continue. Methadone clinics, corrections facilities, emergency departments and other sites frequented by drug users are now handing out the antidote. The province’s health authority told the Herald in October that senior decision-makers were considering a proposal to expand access to methadone and suboxone, though the plan has not been released. Alberta’s health minister said Monday she will soon release a review of the province’s mental health services, which “looks at how we can address some of the root causes of opioid dependency.” Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said she hopes to work with her counterparts in Ottawa to ensure law enforcement is properly equipped to combat the crisis. She said she backs calls from Alberta police chiefs to restrict and regulate fentanyl’s ingredients in Canada to avoid domestic production of the drug, and to restrict the import and sale of pill presses. “We know fentanyl is having a dangerous and serious impact in Alberta and we will continue to work with our partners in health to address this issue head on,” Ganley said in a statement. rsouthwick@calgaryherald.com Fentanyl deaths in 2015 272 Alberta deaths 81 in Calgary 65 in Edmonton 18 in Fort McMurray 21 in Grand Prairie 15 in Red Deer 8 in Lethbridge 4 in Fort Saskatchewan 3 in Medicine Hat Communities where there were fewer than three deaths are not identified for privacy reasons. (Calgary Herald) |