Let’s face it, we are the capital of overdoses presently. Should this particular strategy be used here in Victoria? At the moment we are losing the battle.
Saskatoon police are urging anyone who bought cocaine from the alleged dealer to turn it in because it might be laced with fentanyl.
Police in Saskatoon took the unusual step of releasing an alleged cocaine dealer’s phone number following a number of overdoses and drug-related arrests in the city that harm reduction experts say isn’t equipped to handle an increase in overdoses.
“If you have purchased cocaine from a dealer which goes by the name “Lil Joe”, “Joe Bro” or have made contact with the dealer with the cellular number 306-881-7300, [the] dosage of cocaine you have purchased might be laced with Fentanyl and has the possibility of being a lethal dose,” the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) wrote in a news release published on Sunday.
Police are also urging anyone who bought cocaine from the alleged dealer to turn it in at the station’s front desk so they can properly dispose of it.
“SPS is not searching to pursue charges for being in possession of this cocaine, we are interested in the health and safety of the public” the statement continued.
Text messages sent to the number by VICE News have gone unanswered, and as of Monday, the phone appears to be off.
‘NOT PREPARED’
Over the weekend, Saskatoon police officers arrested a 29-year-old man for drug trafficking who was, according to the news release, “operating a dark colored SUV in regards to the situation.” In the early hours of Sunday morning, police arrested two more men on drug-related offences and seized various drugs, including fentanyl, from a residence.
That came after law enforcement responded to a spate of drug overdoses, including two deaths, across the city.
Jason Mercredi, executive director of AIDS Saskatoon who has long called for a safe drug consumption site there, applauded the police’s decision to publish the dealer’s number as well as their call for people to bring cocaine bought through that number to the station.
“The police aren’t actively involved in the drug scene or party community … this was probably the quickest way to get the word out,” Mercredi told VICE News in a phone interview. “We are not prepared for this in this province,” he said.
The Saskatoon Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from VICE News.
A report last fall found that Saskatoon and Regina, the province’s capital, have the highest rates of hospitalizations for opioid poisoning in the Prairie region.
Mercredi added that the spike in overdoses over the weekend is a disturbing signal that things are going to get worse in the city.
“What I’d like to see is drug testing kits. That would be the most ideal and for us to be able to give them out to bars and events and things like that,” he said, adding that the overall decriminalization of drug possession would be ideal.
“It’s clear that the war on drugs has wasted a ton of money. Decriminalizing possession is possible, but I just don’t see that charge being led from us here,” Mercredi continued.
RISING DEATH TOLL
Police services across Canada have issued repeated warnings about fentanyl-laced cocaine. Last fall, police in Delta, British Columbia — the province with the highest opioid overdose rates in the country — arrested a 21-year-old man who is believed to be linked to at least nine overdoses in 20 minutes due to fentanyl-laced coke.
This year, the province announced a new pilot project that would distribute prescription hydromorphone pills to drug users as a clean alternative for users who are at risk of overdosing on the tainted illicit supply. And over the weekend, the city of Vancouver called on the federal government to decriminalize the possession of all drugs immediately.
“People who are dying are more likely to be indoors and struggle with accessing help or assistance because of their illicit drug use,” Mary Clare Zak, the city’s director of social policy, told CBC. “When you decriminalize then people are feeling like they’re actually safe enough to ask for treatment.”
Opioid-related overdose death rates have risen sharply across Canada in recent years, with 2017 expected to hit a record 4,000 deaths, far above the 2,861 deaths the year before.
Inside Victoria 