Saving lives on the street
Drug Harms Alert provides information to groups like Ally Centre of Cape Breton
SYDNEY — Nova Scotia Health has responded to the need for a better way to alert people about contaminated street drugs.
The new Drug Harms Alert launched in November and notifications are sent through Nova Scotia Health's Twitter account and emailed to community partners like the Ally Centre of Cape Breton.
These community partners are sometimes the ones informing NSH of substances they might have found on the street, like the Dec. 31 notification regarding fentanyl in methadone pills sold illicitly in Glace Bay and New Waterford.
"This (system) arose originally from the community partners we work with," said Sara Wuite from Nova Scotia Health.
"The purpose of these alerts is that, when people are acquiring these drugs it is hard for them to know what exactly is in them. This alternatively allows for information about (contaminated drugs) to be distributed across the province in a quick and timely manner."
On Jan. 5, there was another alert issued for fake Xanax pills found by Cape Breton Regional Police.
The first Drug Harms Alert was sent on Nov. 12 for flu alprazolam, known colloquially as "hulk."
Chris Porter, executive director of the Ally Centre, is one of the members of the provincial harm reduction committee who reached out to Nova Scotia Health and other health organizations about the need for the drug alert system in the province.
"This is an extremely helpful tool for us and a big part of the harm reduction teams work to get the message out there," Porter said.
"I am grateful we had something like this in place to get the word out that fentanyl was found in methadone pills in Glace Bay and New Waterford. We got a lot of calls for Naloxone kits this month (since the alerts started)."
Porter said the harm reduction team at the Ally Centre "hit the streets" after the alert for the fentanyl, even going to some homes and testing drugs there.
Along with information about the substance found, there is information provided in the alerts on how to use safely — another harm reduction strategy for people who use drugs.
Before the alert system, community organizations like the Ally Centre would try to inform people as best they
could, posting signs in their facilities and reaching out to other community partners like food banks and housing shelters.
"About seven or eight months ago (the provincial harm reduction committee) decided there was a need to have a more formal way of alerting the public than what we were doing," Porter said. "This will be a very useful alerts system. It goes out to everyone, province wide. We can't reach everybody on our own."