Fentanyl seized by Blood Tribe police during traffic stop near Standoff

Blood Tribe police have charged two men, including one from Calgary, after a traffic stop turned up drugs on Highway 2 near Standoff in southern Alberta.

Officers seized drugs, cash and weapons from the vehicle:

• 74 fentanyl pills with a street value of $3,700.
• 28.8 grams crack cocaine with a street value of $2,880.
• 4.3 grams marijuana with a street value of $43.
• 1 knife and some firearm ammunition.
• $1,650 in cash.

Earlier this year the band declared a state of emergency in response to at least 20 fatal overdoses in the last 12 months.

Since then,a number of strategies have been enacted in an effort to stopthe use of the drug and to cut down on the number of fatalities.

Take-home Naloxone kits are available and about 50 band members have been trained to administer the drug.

Naloxone is an anti-overdose drug that needs to be injected soon after an overdose.

The band also started a 24-hour help line (403-737-HELP) for addicts and their families to call with overdoseand treatment options.

Alberta command centre established

Alberta Health Services set up a virtualEmergency Command Centre (ECC) on Oct. 20 to help tackle the province's fentanyl problem.

The centre brings togetherrepresentatives from addiction,mental health, first responders andaboriginal health.

"You'll recall that we launched a provincial awareness campaign in August, which followed the initial roll-out of the Take Home Naloxone programin early July," said AHS spokesperson Bruce Conway in an email.

There were 145 deaths associated withfentanyluse in Alberta from January to the end of June. The province says it will giving an update on the numbers in December.