Naloxone use on the rise

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This article was published 10/09/2020 (2234 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon paramedics’ use of anti-overdose medication has jumped dramatically so far this year over 2019, a trend addictions advocates blame on more overdoses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local paramedics administered naloxone, which is used to counter opioid overdoses, during a response call 19 times in all of 2019, but as of Aug. 25 had used it 28 times so far in 2020, according to numbers provided by the City of Brandon.

While that represents a huge jump, addictions advocate Kim Longstreet said the real number of overdoses is much, much higher.

“The kits have been more and more given to the community of people that use and they are using it amongst themselves to save each other,” she said.

“Our overdose deaths in this community have increased grotesquely. … There was just another one the other day — they’re happening just about every other day in this community. We have a pandemic.”

A city spokesperson said the numbers don’t reflect the number of times paramedics arrived and naloxone had already been given.

The coronavirus pandemic has driven up the cost of a “point” — a single use — of meth from $5 to between $25 and $50, Longstreet said. As a result, people are turning to other drugs they aren’t familiar with to get high, including huffing gasoline or aerosols.

“Because of COVID, people who made the drug aren’t getting their supply so are watering down the meth, charging more for it — people aren’t getting the high they usually get — so now they are mixing opioids and whatever else they can into it to get a high. This is why we’re getting deaths,” Longstreet said.

“The interruption of the supplies has caused people to take things they don’t know what they’re taking, they’re taking stuff from untrusted sources and are dying and this is happening in our community as we speak.”

The rise in naloxone use is concerning, said Brandon Fire and Emergency Services Chief Scott McDonald, but all paramedics are trained on what to do if they respond to an overdose. EMS units and paramedic response units all carry the kits.

“No one likes to see this type of need in the community,” McDonald said. “I know there are many groups out there looking at how this can be addressed and we’re working with them as well in hopes of finding ways to mitigate these types of responses.”

The rise in paramedics using naloxone in Brandon mirrors a trend in Winnipeg. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, paramedics in the city used it on 909 patients as of August, up from 789 uses in all of 2019.

 

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» ‘These are people’s family members’

Brandon police Chief Wayne Balcaen said the increase in naloxone use this year speaks to the training paramedics receive and police officers are mindful of the numbers.

“The way to look at it is there is no quality control when it comes to street drugs, so people mixing in fentanyl or carfentanyl or other opioids with drugs, a person who is a substance user may not know exactly what is in that substance they’re taking,” he said.

Police officers all carry naloxone kits in their vehicle, Balcaen said.

The 7th Street Health Access has already distributed nearly tripled the number of naloxone kits this year over 2019 levels, according to numbers provided by Prairie Mountain Health. In 2019, the downtown clinic provided 27 kits, but as of Sept. 9 had given out 97 kits.

A spokesperson for the health region said the clinic started giving out two kits per person this year after a directive from the province.

Paramedics’ increased use of naloxone isn’t surprising, said Community Health and Housing Association addictions advisory committee chair Antoinette Gravel-Ouellette. She echoed that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult to get a safe drug supply.

“People are changing their drug of choice due to the supply not being there from what they’ve been used to taking,” she said.

It’s difficult to estimate the number of overdoses, but Gravel-Ouelette estimates they have tripled in recent months. She blames that partly on people not being able to get the help they normally get due to pandemic-related disruptions, like in-person meetings.

“When COVID happened, it changed a lot of structures, so people’s supports. I’ve noted a huge increase in lapsing and relapsing from substance use, and that’s because they’re not able to get to their supports,” she said.

If people are using drugs, she said they shouldn’t use alone and should test the drug to get an idea of how their body will respond and get a naloxone kit.

“(An overdose) can happen to anybody. These are people and these are people’s family members. They’re brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, mothers, fathers — they have families, these are people and these people are people that are in pain.”

Free naloxone kits are available at the 7th Street Health Access Centre.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_