Winnipeg Folk Fest safety crews get naloxone kits to deal with opiate overdoses

The Winnipeg Folk Festival has equipped its first aid crews with kits to help people overdosing on opiates like fentanyl.

Safety and wellness co-ordinator Paul Laporte said the festival has talked in the past about training the volunteer first aid crews to administer naloxone and now that the kits have become commercially available, they're doing it.

"It seemed like the time," he said.

The festival attracts thousands of people every year and there is always a certain percentage who engage in drug use, although the festival does not attract as many drug users as some other festivals, Laporte said.

"Lots of alcohol-related things, less drug-related things," he said.

The naloxone kits add one more capacity to the festival's safety initiatives, which include mental health and community support crews who go out and talk to festival goers, making sure they're safe, Laporte said.

The approach festivals take to dealing with drugs can vary, Laporte said.

"We had a call from a representative from Health Canada who was doing a bunch of research on fentanyl and naloxone and they mentioned that we were the first festival that they had talked to so far that had been prepared and actually equipped our people with naloxone kits," he said.

Other summer festivals have gone even farther, offering to test drugs to make sure they aren't laced with any unknown substances.

Laporte said groups have approached the festival in the past, offering to provide the service, but no one has ever come through with a formal proposal.

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