Overdose Monitoring Alert Response System hopes to combat fentanyl use in our region
Posted Feb 10, 2016 01:13:13 PM.
Last Updated Feb 10, 2016 02:17:14 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Overdose Monitoring Alert Response System is trying to combat the growing concern of the use of fentanyl in our region.
Co-ordinator Paul Gregory says the system will be able provide overdose alerts, and hopefully have more people trained to use anti-overdose kits.
“We need a clear picture of what’s happening so we can alert the community and alert people that are using drugs, both on a daily and recreational basis, to say there’s some tainted drugs in the community.”
Gregory says there have been 5 non-fatal overdoses and one fatal overdose reported between January 23 and January 26 in Kitchener and Cambridge.
“Often heroin, for instance, is tainted with fentanyl so people don’t know what drugs they’re using and what’s in them. Fentanyl is so highly toxic that it can really effect being cut with other drugs.”
A number of community groups are working on the project including Saguine Health Centre, Waterloo Regional Police Services and the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council.
