Regina experiencing 'significant increase' in overdoses

Regina emergency crews are responding to a "significant increase" in overdose calls this year.

Police data showsthere havebeen atleast 69 overdoses in Regina to date in 2020, with police attending 40 of them and using Narcan (a brand name for the anti-opioid medication naloxone) 16 times. Due to the recent surge, police have been keeping track of all overdose calls whether or not they attend.

Last year, there were only 82 overdoses reported to police and seven Narcan deployments by the RPS.

"There's a great deal of concern for us as a police service, looking after the health and safety of our community knowing there's this bad batch of illicit drugs out there," RPS Insp.Cory Lindskog said.

"I can't say that it's confined to a certain demographic or geographic area of the city. It seems to be affecting anybody that's using illicit street drugs."

Police don't attend every overdose call and ambulance crews have been busy responding to even more. A spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Health Authority saidRegina EMS responded to 62 overdose calls in total since Feb. 7, and at least 46 of those calls involved the administration ofnaloxone.

"This is a significant increase from our normal, which was an average of seven per week throughout 2019," the spokesperson said in the statement.

Lindskog said responding to overdose calls is never easy for officers.

"You know someone in there potentially could die,so it's a very heightened sense of awareness going in there, tryingto save someone's life."

He reminded the public of the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act which was established in 2017 with the intention of saving lives and asked people with information about this bad batch to call police.

"If anybody is to call police or emergency medical services whensomeone is suspected of overdosing, they would be exempt from any charges related to possession ofthose drugs."

Provincial leaders weigh in

When asked about the spike in Regina overdoses, provincial leaders took the opportunity to point to the bigger picture.

On Wednesday, NDP Leader Ryan Meili said the crystal meth and opioid problem in Saskatchewan has been growing for years, yet the government hasn't done enough.

"We have not seen attention paid to that from the provincial government the way it should be. There's no strategy to deal with opioids, no strategy to deal with crystal meth," he said."Basically we're telling people we don't care, because we don't have the services available."

Meili said he experienced his own frustration with the system and accessibility while working as a family physician.He said people would ask for help and treatment.

"And I'd say, 'Sure, there's a bed in three months.'"

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The province needs in-patient care longer than 28 days to treat people recovering from a crystal meth addiction, Meili said.He said anNDP government would focus on that, while also creating independent mental-health emergency rooms.

Health Minister Jim Reiter agreed that the province's addictionproblems spread beyond Regina.

"We need to increase capacity to help folks in Saskatchewan with addictions issues and that's what you saw last budget," he said.

• Saskatchewan Budget 2019: Mental health and addictions get $30M funding increase
• $30M in mental health funding shows Sask. 'playing catch up': NDP

"You saw $30 millionin extra funding on top of what we already spent on mental health and addictions."

Of that extra money, $13.7 million was put toward the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford.

It also included $6.25 million from the federal government.

Reiter said he expects the government to remain focused on addiction treatmentin the coming year by increasing the number of beds and counsellors.

Police are asking anyone with information about fentanyl in Regina tocall police or Crime Stoppers.