Overdose alert issued after nearly 50 overdoses reported in Saskatoon over past week

Dayne Patterson · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 02, 2025 1:09 PM EST | Last Updated: March 2

The Saskatoon Fire Department responded to astir 50 reported overdoses successful the past week, prompting an alert from the government.

In an overdose alert, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health said Saskatoon Fire responded to 25 overdoses successful the metropolis connected Tuesday and Wednesday, past different 23 from Friday greeting to Saturday morning. 

The alert did not authorities if immoderate of those overdoses were fatal. 

Prairie Harm Reduction successful Saskatoon says an further 5 radical overdosed wrong its harmless depletion tract connected Friday, overmuch much than the 1 oregon 2 overdoses each fewer days they usually see.

According to Prairie Harm Reduction, immoderate of the drugs that are causing the overdoses could incorporate drugs that aren't opioids — fixed they tested drugs that contained benzodiazepines — and volition not respond to naloxone, which temporarily reverses the slowed breathing caused by opioid overdoses

Kayla DeMong, enforcement manager astatine Prairie Harm Reduction, said to beryllium cautious of airy pink, reddish oregon purple drugs. She referenced 1 overdose successful the facility's harmless depletion tract connected Friday wherever naloxone did not work.

"Our paramedic was capable to stabilize with oxygen and CPR, but we're not definite what had been taken with that idiosyncratic that resulted successful naloxone not working," she said.

DeMong says determination person been surge patterns since the opening of the twelvemonth of much overdoses than usual. In the astir caller case, the spread betwixt a surge was lone respective days.

A fewer blocks distant from Prairie Harm Reduction's location, a tiny radical of radical gathered extracurricular Station 20 West arsenic the destination of a march to bring consciousness to homelessness and, for some, the substance addiction situation successful the city.

David Fineday helps signifier an consciousness locomotion each 2 weeks in an effort to support advocating for changes to extremity homelessness.

"These are each are relatives," helium said, motioning to radical successful the area.

"We conscionable emotion our radical and we privation to assistance them truthful they're not homeless, truthful we don't suffer immoderate more."

Among them was Irene Head, who said her 46-year-old son, Kevin James Sutherland, died of an overdose and was recovered extracurricular successful the cold. 

Head said she would look for him for days and, erstwhile she recovered Sutherland, helium wouldn't travel home.

"Why aren't you astatine home, wherefore are you surviving similar this," Head said she would inquire him.

"He was truthful addicted that I was helpless. His member tried to assistance him; helium was devastated … it was precise hard connected my family."