Regina’s safe consumption site says recent overdose deaths are preventable

In just 24 hours, three people died from an overdose in Regina.

That’s according to a drug overdose alert the Ministry of Health put out Thursday afternoon.

Emile Gariepy, primary care paramedic and harm reduction manager at the Nēwo-Yōtina Friendship Centre, said staff have been educating users about the dangerous drug circulation.

“We’re just letting people know; be careful what you’re using,” he said.

“Come get it tested, if you haven’t tried this stuff before, go lightly. Be with a friend. Have Narcan around.”

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He also recommends that people come to the safe injection site at Wâhkôhtowin Harm Reduction in the Friendship Centre.

“Come use our safe injection site. Nobody ever dies in our safe injection site,” he said.

In a recent test by the centre, the organization identified a “substance in circulation with a concerning concentration of fentanyl and benzodiazepines. It was not confirmed whether this substance was the cause of the recent increase in overdoses in Regina,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Gariepy said one of their clients who overdosed wanted to get the drug she had sampled.

“She had given it up willingly because she wanted to know what was inside of it on her way to the hospital,” he said. “Our findings were pretty strong fentanyl.”

He said more clients are coming in to get their drugs tested before using them.

At the centre, staff are able to react quickly to overdoses and help those in need. On the streets, this isn’t always the same scenario.

“Most of the deaths are going to be because the response wasn’t there in time, or somebody didn’t call on time, or nobody was there with Narcan,” Gariepy said.

But sometimes, even with multiple doses of Naloxone, it’s not enough to reverse the effects of the drug.

“It’s definitely dangerous, and you’re playing with fire, because you can’t reverse benzodiazepines with Naloxone,” he said.

Naloxone counters the effects of opioids, but not other substances like methamphetamine or benzodiazepine.

Gariepy said he has noticed a shift in how clients are reacting to these drugs, even users who have a much “higher tolerance” are being gravely impacted.

“Now that there’s fentanyl coming out that is extremely potent, it’s sending even these veteran users into overdoses,” he said. “So that’s why we’re seeing a big (increase in) deaths and overdoses at the moment.”

Gariepy said these deaths are preventable, and operating the centre longer could help.

“Drug use isn’t a nine-to-five thing; it happens after work, it happens before work, it happens overnight,” he said.

But without the funding, the centre can only operate with limited hours.

“We definitely lost people to overdoses,” he said.

As far as Gariepy is aware, none of the three overdose deaths were known clients of the centre.