Pubdate: Tue, 22 Dec 2015
Source: Sun Times, The (Owen Sound, CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Owen Sound Sun Times
Contact: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/letters
Website: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1544
Author: Scott Dunn
Page: A1

WARNING FOLLOWS FATAL DRUG OVERDOSE

Health unit concerned about what's in the heroin now on the streets of
Owen Sound

Grey Bruce Health Unit is warning about a potentially lethal heroin
mix available locally which is blamed for one man's death and two
other overdoses in Owen Sound on Monday alone.

Grey County Emergency Services contacted the health unit about heroin
circulating in the community following protocols triggered when
there's a health concern the public should know about, Dr. Christine
Kennedy, the acting medical officer of health, said in an interview.

The warning also advises drug users, their families and friends that a
free "rescue kit" containing clean syringes and two vials of Naloxone,
which can reverse opioid overdoses, are available by calling the
health unit at 519-376-9420.

Kennedy had few details about the three people who overdosed Monday
but she believed both of those who survived were still in hospital
early Monday afternoon.

While all three overdoses happened in Owen Sound, it's "just a matter
of time" before the heroin in question is available throughout
Grey-Bruce, she said.

"We're asking family and friends who know individuals who use drugs to
be proactive and reach out to these people to make them aware of the
danger of this particular heroin," Kennedy said in a news release Monday.

"We're very concerned. We don't want to see anyone else harmed," she
said. "Additional strategies to reduce risk include taking smaller
doses and not being alone when taking drugs."

When people call for a rescue kit, nurses will provide intensive harm
prevention education for drug users and people who care about them,
Kennedy said.

The Owen Sound police service issued its own news release Monday which
warned about potentially deadly drugs in the city. It says the drug
may be "heroin or cocaine or a drug held out to be those drugs."

Officers investigated after a male overdosed on the west side at 12:30
a.m. and, nine hours later, an overdose involving a male and female on
the east side of the city. All three were taken by ambulance to
hospital. Police said later a young male died in one of the incidents.
Their investigation continues.

Kennedy she understands anecdotally that the extreme cold last winter
changed drug use patterns in Grey-Bruce.

"When the temperatures (dropped) in late January, early February it .
. . disrupted actually the distribution networks from Cambridge and
Hamilton so that the price of oxycodone and other opioids that were
available on the street went up exponentially," she said.

"And what that meant was that there was an immediate shift away from
more traditional, less injectable opioids to heroin."

The size of the intravenous drug user population is hard to be certain
of, as are the number of local overdoses this year or cases where the
rescue kits have saved lives, Kennedy said.

But there has been a near doubling in demand for the health unit's
needle exchange program this year over last. In 2014, the program
provide about 38,000 clean needles as part of its harm reduction
efforts, Kennedy said.

The free needles are available in Owen Sound, Hanover and Walkerton.
All locations on the public heath unit's website.

Kennedy estimated "dozens" of Naloxone rescue kits have been handed
out by public health since they became in available in August through
a provincial program. The local health unit was among the first health
units in Ontario to distribute them, she said.

Kennedy said the heroin circulating now could be a particularly potent
form of the drug or a mixture, which makes it more deadly. Toxicology
tests, which should make that clear, may take a few more days, she
said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt