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Earlier this year, Sara Birrell in Briarpatch declared the real drug crisis on the prairies isn’t represented by opioids. Instead, the genuine scourge in Saskatchewan is meth according to an insightful article she’d written for the Regina-based independent publication in January 2020. Birrell’s article produced a strong argument, since crystal methamphetamine is a much cheaper thrill with prices ranging from $3-$10 a hit. Moreover, methamphetamine offers intense highs which can sometimes last for 24 hours.

In contrast, established street opioids such as OxyContin are extravagantly-priced, with costs approximating $50 for 80 milligrams. To circumvent the doldrums and illnesses inherent with withdrawal, OxyContin users are obligated to dose-up again on their pricey habits within 6-12 hours.

Yet, without diminishing the brutal effects of methamphetamine, opioid usage in one form or another is still on the rise in Saskatchewan and this is alarming. People are overdosing and dying on the streets in the province’s cities and towns from opioids without even knowing what they’ve taken in the first place, since dealers are spiking methamphetamine, cocaine and other substances with high-powered opioids such as fentanyl. Still relatively new on the drug scene, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which is 50-100 times more potent than morphine. A mere two to three milligrams of fentanyl can kill a user by blocking the opioid receptors. Respiratory depression often follows during an overdose, which leads to a coma and finally death. Fentanyl is often blended into illegal drugs for added kicks without the user realizing, since the drug is tasteless and lacks a noticeable scent.  

Although users in the hard drug scene aren’t necessarily dedicating their lives to a single type of poison, opioid overdoses epitomize a strong factor in Canada’s drug fatalities. Dr. Ginette Poulin – an addictions specialist in Manitoba – said hard drug users are often poly-dependents – meaning they are addicted to more than one drug at a time. Yet, as dealers continue to spike their illicit products with fentanyl, the opioid crisis is mounting across the nation.

Regina has become the province’s hotspot for fentanyl overdoses in accordance with preliminary statistics from the Saskatchewan Coroners Service. However, opioid abuse is also a province-wide dilemma. Fifteen deaths in Regina were attributed to fentanyl overdoses in 2019, but in total, there were 27 fatal incidents associated with fentanyl overdoses across Saskatchewan last year and these worrisome statistics are rising as 2020 progresses.

Emergency crews in Regina have already responded to a dramatic upsurge in calls related to overdoses so far in 2020 according to figures in a February 20 CBC report. There have been 69 opioid overdoses this winter, compared to 82 overdoses in 2019. Police in Regina have been regularly using naloxone, an anti-opioid medication, whenever they’ve attended situations involving overdoses. The Regina Police Service have already deployed naloxone 16 times in 2020, compared to seven times during the entire year of 2019.       

There are no clear answers in response to this developing opioid emergency in Saskatchewan and across Canada, but some initiatives have been used in the United States and these ideas have proven to be successful for helping addicts.

Steve Hamm said residential rehabilitation centres in the United States where abstaining is the modus operandi have proven to be unsuccessful for the majority of opioid addicts in an article he wrote for Yale Medicine in the winter of 2018.

Hamm’s research indicated that 90 per cent of people in rehab who’ve been enrolled in programs involving abstinence and detoxification will probably relapse within six months, because the intense cravings for opioids are too strong to ignore. Rather, methadone and buprenorphine programs have proven to be much more affective for people suffering from opioid addictions, because these substances are capable of helping people to ease off from their monstrous dependencies.

Canadians addicted to opioids might be eligible for buprenorphine implants – this method was approved by Health Canada in April 2018. The implants deliver a constant dose of medication into one arm for six months. Afterwards, a new implant is placed inside the opposite arm for an additional six months.

Hamm concluded his argument by saying medication-based therapies are capable of supporting addicts to overcome their appetites for opioids – they are also more effective than traditional rehab methods and prison sentences for low risk offenders who are coping with addiction issues.