Hastings-Quinte chief of paramedic services Doug Socha addresses the Emergency Measures committee as Chair Bernice Jenkins listens, October 12, 2016. (Photo: Mary Thomas/Quinte news)
A drug more potent than heroin and the number one cause of drug-related deaths in Ontario is catching attention in the Quinte area as well.
Hastings-Quinte chief of emergency services Doug Socha says fentanyl has become the “new drug of choice.”
He says it’s not as prevalent as in British Columbia but it occurs here.
Socha noted that the number of times local paramedic crews administered Naloxone to counteract fentanyl doubled in recent years.
Hastings and Prince Edward Public Health is providing Naloxone overdose prevention kits to users who volunteer to take it, in an attempt to bring down the number of opioid-related deaths in Ontario.
