STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
By Justine Kelsie

Increase in drug overdoses this week: HIV North Society

Jun 20, 2018 | 4:59 PM

The HIV North Society is warning the public about an increase in overdoses this week in Grande Prairie. 

Johnny Fortune, part of the Harm Reduction Team, says they have had days with multiple drug poisonings which isn’t usually what they expect. On Wednesday, June 20, they responded to four between 9 a.m. and noon. 

“We are thinking it be might different types of drugs going around. We see that it comes in different waves. Different weeks there are different drugs and different chemical makeup of drugs tend to sway people in one way or the other,” said Fortune. 

In a Facebook post, the organization points to methamphetamine as the culprit, but they warn that even that type of drug can have traces of fentanyl. Fortune urges people to get a naloxone kit and learn how to use it. 

“I think it is kind of an emergency that we are in right now. It is a crisis. I think that everyone is impacted and I think everyone should have a naloxone kit and be trained with it. You don’t know when an overdose can happen, where you are going to be, and who you are going to be with.”

The kits are available at most pharmacies, at the HIV North Society, and through the society’s van that roams around the city.

by Justine Kelsie