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The fentanyl intercepted by the police is presented on an archive photo.
Courtesy Vancouver Police Service / Windsor Star
The death of five people following a drug overdose that occurred in 24 hours this weekend should prompt people to take action to combat the epidemic of opioids, said Sunday a drug addict activist.
"Five lives lost show that very toxic substances are circulating," said Brandon Bailey, an active member of the Windsor Overdose Prevention Society, who advocated for an overdose prevention site and operated a simulated downtown site for a week. . Although Bailey has not yet learned the names of the five dead, he felt almost certain that some of them would be friends or acquaintances.
"Because they are drug users, their lives are swept under the rug," Bailey said. "Whether I know them all or not, it has a huge effect on me."
He added that deaths highlight the need for a government-approved overdose prevention site where people can legally use drugs and where street drugs can be legally tested to determine fentanyl content. He suggested that these deaths could have been avoided if the city had a legal website to prevent overdoses.
"By keeping this as something we can be stopped from, instead of considering it a health problem, we are being held back," said the 32-year-old. "We can not fix anything."
Windsor police have helped paramedics with "many" overdoses between 6 am Saturday and 6 am Sunday, said the staff sergeant. Karl DaGraaf, who did not know the exact number of cases. Of the "many" police officers interviewed, five people died.
Police believe that at least some of the deaths are related to an overdose of fentanyl, but the exact causes still need to be determined by a coroner, DeGraaf said.
"It's only about disclosing information so that the public is aware of it," DeGraff said, adding that the Windsor Police Department is not issuing warnings at this time.
Every night this past week, members of the overdose prevention company organized the simulated overdose prevention site in a black tent on Victoria Avenue. They distributed life-saving naloxone anti-overdose kits and explained to pbaders-by the benefits of a true overdose prevention site.
A total of 36 people died of opioid-related causes in 2017 in Windsor-Esbad County, according to the province's opioid overdose monitoring system, created to monitor the alarming increase in the number of overdose deaths. At the same time, the number of visits to opiod – related emergency departments has almost doubled at the local level, from 108 in 2016 to 197 in 2017.
Members of the Windsor Overdose Prevention Society plan to hold a peaceful protest outside the Town Hall Friday afternoon in direct response to the weekend's five deaths, Bailey said. He hopes to work with city officials and the police to prevent future overdoses from occurring. No one from Windsor City Council or the Windsor Police Service stopped at the simulated site to talk about solutions, he added.
"How many lives will we lose? Let's hope these five dead open their eyes, "said Bailey. "That's why our site should be fully operational."
In January, local officials unveiled a strategy to combat the local opioid-related crisis, which included improving treatment options, public awareness, the availability of naloxone, and researching a drug. site for a secure injection.
"We need to take things more seriously than just study the problem," said Sunday Janice Kaffer, President and CEO of Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, at the high number of overdose deaths.
"We really need to talk about an overdose prevention site sanctioned in Windsor," she said. "It's one of the best options for engaging with people who consume and, over time, linking them to treatment."
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