'Crisis continues to worsen' with potent opioid hitting Lethbridge streets

The director of a busy supervised consumption site in Lethbridge says the drug abuse problem seems to be only growing.

And police are warning a new potent opioid has hit the streets.

The suspected opioid is being sold as a coloured, powdered heroin, according to Stacey Bourque, executive director of ARCHES, which runs the supervised consumption site in Lethbridge, Alta. But she suspects it's been cut with fentanyl or carfentanilwithout informing the users.

"The crisis continues to worsen. I mean, it's definitely an epidemic that gets larger and larger," Bourque told the Calgary EyeopeneronTuesday. "We're continuously seeing new faces at our facility all the time."

Overdoses, deaths

From Friday to Sunday, her organization had 20 overdoses.

On Twitter, the LethbridgePolice Service urged users to take their drugs at the consumption site or with someone who knows how to administer the overdose antidote, Naloxone.

"Over the past 24 hours, police responded to two suspected overdose deaths andofficers believe a very potent batch of opioids is on the street," police said in the tweet.

The supervised consumption centre has expanded twice in the past year. And in the past 10 months, staff have prevented more than 1,350 overdoses, Bourque said.

Each day, more than 600 people walk through thedoors, and there's usually a waiting list for one of the 17 injection booths or two inhalation rooms, she said.

Her team keeps a close eye on warnings from other cities about extra potent batches of drugs on the street, in case those make their way to Lethbridge.

"We watch waves of overdoses come through our facility regularly," she said.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.