Blood Tribe police report big spike in carfentanil overdoses
Officials say a recent spike in suspected overdoses on a southern Alberta First Nation is due to the deadly synthetic opioid carfentanil, a drug 100 times more potent than fentanyl.
Blood Tribe Police Service said they responded to 22 overdoses between Tuesday and Thursday of last week, one of them fatal.
There were 39 overdoses between Nov. 1 and 22.
The suspected carfentanil, officials said, is believed to be mixed with an unknown substance being sold to unsuspecting users.
“We all know that illicit drugs are very dangerous. However, drug traffickers continue to prey on our community,” Blood Tribe police Chief Kyle Melting Tallow said in a statement shared on social media.
“They take advantage of our vulnerable and the socioeconomic situation in the community. Many people are caught in the cycle of addiction and do not know how to ask for help.”
Blood Tribe EMS said they responded to more than 50 calls for service between Tuesday and Thursday for the community of roughly 10,000.
Officials say six to eight vials of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone had to be used to revive each person who overdosed.
The First Nation is roughly 200 kilometres south of Calgary.
In a statement shared on Facebook on Thursday, Blood Tribe Administration spokesman Rick Tailfeathers said the chief and members of council have heard concerns about substance use in the community.
“We are concerned about the well-being of our tribal members and issue this warning again in hopes of preventing deaths,” the statement read.
“We have been informed that more overdoses have occurred in recent days and the alert is not being taken seriously.
“Chief and council ask all tribal members to be vigilant and urge you to take all measures necessary to inform and warn your families and friends of the dangers of carfentanil.”
Sixteen overdoses in the first three months of 2015 prompted the Blood band to declare a state of emergency.
The second state of emergency was called in February after carfentanil hit the community.
“We were ill-prepared for it. EMS and the police had horrendous calls,” Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, who was born and raised on the First Nation, said in May.
“They’d come to a house and there would be five people who had overdosed, and they were unresponsive and not breathing. In that weekend, we had 14 overdoses and, luckily, no one died.”