Tackling opioid crisis
Police Services Board discusses Region’s response to growing number of deaths
Concerns about potential Special Investigations Unit involvement have kept potentially lifesaving medication out of the hands of front-line police officers.
Although Niagara Regional Police officers who commonly deal with drug enforcement are equipped with naloxone kits and trained to use them to help keep overdose victims alive, NRP Chief Bryan MacCulloch said he hopes to eventually equip all front line officers with the medication.
However, he said police are concerned that if a person died after a police officer administered naloxone, the SIU would likely be called in to investigate.
Sandi Walker Tantardini — whose son Scott died of an overdose on Aug. 27, 2016 — called it “mind-blowing” that an officer could be subject to an investigation under the SIU after administering naloxone.
“That’s disgusting — absolutely disgusting,” said Walker Tantardini, who was at Thursday’s Police Services Board Meeting to be part of a discussion on the Region’s response to the growing number of deaths related to use of opioids like fentanyl.
She said an exemption is in place in B.C. for officers administering the drug, and “I’m wondering how we can get that to happen here.”
MacCulloch earlier said plans to write to the SIU in early 2018 to determine the organization’s potential response to a situation, “where we’re in all essence trying to save a life.”
But in addition to equipping officers with naloxone kits, Walker Tantardini said police also should undergo “sensitivity training.”
“I think if police are going to carry naloxone and administer it, they have to take off that police hat and now have to put on a different hat,” she said. “With that comes a whole different way of treating someone.”
In that type of situation, she said police should be more concerned about reassuring the person rather than containing the situation.
MacCulloch said police officers undergo sensitivity training as part of their annual re-qualification training.
“We have seen a significant increase in the number of calls related to mental health and addictions. I think our officers do a fantastic job of showing empathy and compassion,” he said, adding police realize that no one plans to become a drug addict.
“We can always be better and reinforce that with our officers in their training scenarios.”
Deputy Chief Brett Flynn also pointed out that despite concerns about the sensitivity of police officers responding to overdose calls, their presence could lead to information that could save more lives.
“What if there’s an opportunity during that investigation to identity drug dealers who are providing people with lethal doses of drugs? We can stop them before it happens to someone else, and I think as a police agency we need to consider.”
Walker Tantardini also suggested establishing an unsanctioned supervised injection site in Niagara, similar to Moss Park in Toronto.
“The community there is amazing. It’s very supportive. It’s nothing like what people think,” she said.
Niagara’s associate medical officer of health Dr. Andrea Feller said there’s an indication that the supervised injection sites are saving the lives of the people who use them.
But in terms of the total population, the statistics are “quite different.”
She said in Vancouver, researchers have determined that if the safe injection site is more than 500 metres away from a user’s location, “they will not go there.”
And despite a Niagara Emergency Medical Services map showing areas where the highest number of overdoses occurred, she said the areas showing the highest concentration of overdoses “is way more than 500 metres wide.”
Earlier in the meeting, Feller also discussed the limitations of naloxone.
“You give them naloxone, it is not a panacea. It is not a silver bullet. It can help reverse the opioid respiratory suppression. … Give them the naloxone, that’s going to help. But I will tell you right now, they run away. They start to bring somebody back and they don’t hang around, especially if they see uniforms, even if it’s EMS.”
She said naloxone was used by paramedics 112 times in 571 calls to which they responded. But StreetWorks Needle Exchange, a program run by Positive Living Niagara, has given out about 300 naloxone kits that have been used.
Naloxone is being used and people are not calling EMS, she said.
“If there’s one message I can get out there, call EMS. We will help you over the phone. We will help you with breathing for the person. Do not use alone and call EMS,” Feller said. “Because these are people that are not all better. They need to go to the hospital or to some medical care.”
Regional chair Alan Caslin said the Region will be meeting with federal government representatives Thursday afternoon to determine if there could be any additional assistance in dealing with the problem.
MacCulloch will provide the board with an update on the opioid issue from a police perspective, in three months.
ABenner@postmedia.com