Fentanyl-laced meth prompts alert

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This article was published 16/09/2024 (365 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An alert was sent out on social media on Friday warning that a sample of meth sold in Brandon had a fentanyl content of 21 per cent.

That sample was brought forward for testing by a woman named Kat, a peer with the Brandon Harm Reduction Network who asked that her last name not be used.

The network’s peers are people who have experience using substances and advise on its programs and policies.

“I was doing (the meth) and something wasn’t right with it,” Kat told the Sun on the weekend.

“I’ve been able to tell in the past, too. I would get kind of tired or pain behind the eyes. It just wasn’t burning right and stuff like that. So I figured something was wrong, that’s why I tested it.”

She brought the sample to network co-ordinator Solange Machado, who operates out of the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation building at 440 Rosser Avenue.

Machado said that Brandon doesn’t have machinery needed to test the content of drugs and samples are typically sent to either Vancouver or Winnipeg.

In this case, the sample was sent to Winnipeg’s Mobile Overdose Prevention Site, which examined it using a Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy machine.

After the results revealed fentanyl in the sample, safersites.ca posted an alert on its Facebook page that was shared by Brandon Harm Reduction.

Machado said Friday’s alert didn’t mention that the meth sample also contained another unexpected substance, a type of heart medication.

In the past, she said testing has shown that meth in Brandon has also contained artificial sweeteners.

Sometimes drugs are also tainted with benzodiazepines, a class of depressant drugs that unlike opioids like fentanyl, cannot be treated in overdose scenarios with naloxone. Naloxone is “a fast-acting drug used to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses,” according to Health Canada.

“We’re seeing people get sick, have abnormal reactions causing skin abscesses or infections if they’re injecting,” Machado said in a phone interview. “We are seeing a lot of overdoses, not all of them fatal. A lot of them are reversed with naloxone, but we have had a couple fatal overdoses in the community in the last month.”

The problem with trying to tell whether drugs are tainted is that many people don’t realize until they use them and notice that they’re not getting the expected effect.

Machado does have fentanyl test strips at her office, but those only indicate whether the drug is present at all, not how much is present. That’s why samples have to be sent away for a more complete breakdown.

Getting testing equipment for Brandon is something that Machado said her organization is advocating Prairie Mountain Health to do.

From Kat’s perspective, the tainted drug problem in Brandon had slowed down for a bit but has picked up again after recent drug busts.

She said it took about a month for test results to come back for the sample she provided, meaning meth from the same source might not still be circulating. However, there could still be other undesirable substances mixed into the current supply.

To stay safe, Kat recommends a cautious approach: use test strips before use, go low and slow when using and always use with a friend or someone you trust. She said it’s also a good idea to know where a source of naloxone is as well.

“There’s been more people that are starting to carry it, because there’s been so many overdoses and deaths and stuff, but I still feel that there’s not enough people carrying it,” she said.

If someone has a drug they believe is tainted, Kat said they could either bring it to Solange, to public health or the 7th Street Health Access Centre to be sent for testing.

Those interested in learning how to administer naloxone can visit Machado for a lesson or find more information online at towardtheheart.com.

Also spreading the word about the tainted meth was Sioux Valley Dakota Nation. The self-governing Indigenous community roughly 50 kilometres west of Brandon warned that the drug could reach its borders.

“This drug can kill rapidly through respiratory depression, so we will need to remain hyper-vigilant in the forthcoming days,” reads an emergency notice on the Sioux Valley website.

It also said that Sioux Valley Health Staff and First Nation Safety Officers have been briefed on the situation and will be carrying extra doses of Narcan, a brand of naloxone.

Brandon Police Service Sgt. Jason Medwechuk said he didn’t have access to information regarding incidents involving tainted drugs over the weekend and recommended that the Sun follow up during this upcoming week.

Reached by phone on Saturday, Chief Vince Tacan said while there has been meth in his community recently, there’s been “nothing like” the tainted meth the alert was about.

He said naloxone has been needed to treat overdose in the community in the past, so the extra doses were being deployed out of caution.

The alert included a phone number for a drug tip line that residents can call or text.

“Our goal is to share information with not only our local agencies and departments who are grappling to get a handle on these issues, but we’re also hoping to share information with other police partners such as Brandon (Police Service) and the RCMP,” Tacan said.

He said the community has recently spent $1.2 million to repair homes damaged in “situations related to meth use.”

Currently, the chief said Sioux Valley doesn’t have the resources to deal with drug use in the community and people may need to be sent elsewhere for treatment.

“We’re looking at options right now on how we can offer that service locally,” Tacan said. “We don’t like to ship our problems off to another jurisdiction.”

He said Sioux Valley has the resources to perhaps set up a temporary healing facility, but would need a revenue stream to keep something going long term.

“We’re involved in these things because we have to ensure that our kids have a fighting chance,” Tacan said.

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