A common front to battle Fentanyl abuse in the community

Several community agencies held a media event Wednesday to highlight the impact of fentanyl in North Bay.

Chief of Police Shawn Devine says they’re currently investigating 3 sudden deaths that may have been caused by fentanyl overdose.

He says last year there were 25 overdoses their officers responded to and this year they’re almost at that total halfway through the year.

“We’ve had 24 incidents of overdoses in which the police have responded too. If you do the math if we continue on the trend we could be looking at a 100 % increase on last year’s figures,” Devine says.

Nipissing Paramedic Services says their staff have experienced 40 such incidents.

Regional Supervising Coroner says Dr. David Cameron says fentanyl deaths are up province wide.

“Throughout Ontario the number of times fentanyl has been involved in opioid related deaths has increased by over 40 % between 2016 and 2017. With the increased number of deaths it’s more dangerous,” he says.

North Bay crown attorney Russell Wood says the courts are taking a hard line against those who traffic in fentanyl but there’s a different approach to users.

“We are looking at likely a penitentiary sentence for a relatively low amount of fentanyl given the kind of damage it can do. Our office and the courts recognizes that somebody who is merely addicted to a substance deserves a different approach,” Wood says.

Other speakers included the medical officer of health and Jean Lemieux of Near North Crime Stoppers which will pay a $1,000 reward for the rest of the summer for information leading to the seizure of fentanyl or the arrest of those involved in trafficking in the drug.

Devine says whether it’s the police or the health unit or the community drug strategy this multi pronged approach is about saving lives.

“The seriousness of this problem is people are dying. If we continue in this trend we will see more deaths. The public needs to understand this is not an isolated situation and it is something we can all work towards through education, he says.