Canada's Fentanyl Warning
Inside the programs fighting Canada's overdose epidemic
Canada, and especially British Columbia, have been struggling with an overdose emergency for nearly 10 years. Fentanyl is at the heart of the epidemic: stronger than heroin, it is often cut into other drugs without users knowing, putting them at greater risk of overdose and death. The government and non-government groups are trying to combat the epidemic by providing safe drugs to users.
Dr. Christy helps addicts on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She says Fentanyl “is much more potent than heroin. So people who were previously acclimatized to heroin, their brain adjusted to this new potent opioid.” Christy runs the world's first safe supply program, selling pharmaceutical grade Fentanyl to drug users to stop them turning to violence and sex work. “What I have seen in my clinical experience is that when people are on a high intensity program like this and stabilize, they want to move on” she says. Jeremy works with the Drug Users Liberation Front, supplying clean heroin, meth and cocaine to users. This organisation operates on the cusp of legality, but Jeremy says that “in the context of a public health emergency, which is a legislative tool that public health officials have, we need to do everything we can” to stop the wave of Fentanyl-related deaths. Canada’s right wing have been vocal in their opposition to safe use programs. But many Canadians don’t think the government is doing enough. They want to see more safe supply in a non-medical setting.
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