Health authority issues alert after Saskatoon records 37 overdoses in 24 hours

Alexander Quon · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 06, 2025 6:25 PM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Saskatoon has seen a flood of overdoses successful the past week, prompting a nationalist alert from the Saskatchewan Health Authority and a absorption to Saskatoon constabulary that officers present respond to overdose calls.

The Saskatoon Fire Department told CBC News connected Thursday day that successful the past 24 hours it had responded to 37 overdoses. Deputy Fire Chief Rob Hogan said that is simply a melodramatic increase. Since precocious February, the Saskatoon Fire Department has been responding to an mean of 19 overdose calls a day, Hogan said.

"[Firefighters and paramedics] are having to assistance with breathing, truthful they're utilizing a container valve mask, they're doing CPR and past they're having to administer Narcan," said Hogan, utilizing a marque sanction for naloxone, a medicine utilized to reverse oregon trim the effects of opioids.

"This isn't conscionable administering Narcan, [then] locomotion away. These are terrible life-saving measures that they're having to do, and past administer Narcan and sometimes the diligent goes to hospital, sometimes they don't."

The Saskatchewan Health Authority's (SHA's) latest alert says the fig of overdoses bespeak that, "an unusually potent and perchance lethal substance is circulating successful the Saskatoon area."

The alert describes the harmful substance arsenic airy pinkish chunks, acheronian purple chunks oregon other, chartless substances.

"Several suspicious deaths person occurred successful Saskatoon, these deaths whitethorn beryllium connected to the overdoses," the alert said.

Kayla DeMong, the enforcement manager of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon, called the fig of incidents an ongoing crisis.

DeMong said unit astatine Prairie Harm Reduction are spending each their clip reviving radical with naloxone.

Staff are besides taking naloxone kits to houses wherever they cognize radical bent retired and walking the alleys of the metropolis handing retired kits and checking connected people.

"This is truthful traumatizing, and we're each truthful scared," DeMong said.

"I don't adjacent cognize however we've seen precise fewer deaths from this, but radical are gonna commencement dying, and that's a batch of people."

DeMong said the state needs to state a wellness exigency and person the SHA take complaint of the situation.

Kelsey Fraser, a spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police Service, said constabulary officers bash not usually respond to overdose calls, leaving it to the occurrence section oregon exigency services, but with the caller summation successful overdoses, they are being directed to "attend overdose calls whenever possible."

"The extremity of this is to stitchery that captious accusation that mightiness assistance an investigation, place cause sources, disrupt the organisation of them, and yet forestall further harm to our community," Fraser said.

Officers are equipped with naloxone, Fraser said.

The SHA says escaped take-home naloxone kits are disposable at more than 450 locations crossed the province.

They're besides urging anyone who witnesses an overdose to telephone 911, knowing that the national Good Samaritan Act provides them extortion from elemental possession charges erstwhile they question assistance with an overdose for themself oregon others.