The Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola said 11 people have died due to drug overdoses in N.W.T. last year alone. It’s an alarming number of people, especially considering that between 2017 to 2021, a four year span, the same number of people died due to drug overdoses in N.W.T.
The Chief Public Health Officer recently took the time to speak with True North FM about the dynamics of the drug crisis that communities across the territories are facing.
Dr. Kandola said this is the largest number of deaths she has seen due to overdoses since 2016.
Kandola warned that the street drug supply is not safe, dangerous mixes of substances have been detected in not only seized fentanyl but in other street drugs as well.
Symptoms of overdose could include excessive drowsiness, unconsciousness and trouble breathing.
Dr. Kandola advises anyone who suspects an overdose to get to a health facility and administer. naloxone right away and every couple of minutes until they can get help from a health centre where people can more formally provide support for breathing and monitor the patient.
The Chief Public Health Officer issued an updated advisory on May 13, confirming “the presence of both ketamine and heroin” in a sample of fentanyl seized in N.W.T.
Dr. Kandola said this was the first time she had seen ketamine mixed with fentanyl.
The original announcement on May 7 warned of a “new and potentially dangerous” drug combination, which Dr. Kandola said she has never seen.
Earlier this month, the same sample of fentanyl tested positive for a dangerous benzodiazepine depressant.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Desalkygidazepam (a novel benzodiazepine). It’s not manufactured here in North America. It was an old drug that was made in the Soviet Union,” she said.
The CPHO warns this rare type of depressant, called desalkygidazepam, could potentially be present anywhere in the Illegal drug supply across the N.W.T.
The Chief Public Health Officer warned that fentanyl was found in the form of a green powder.
The sample of fentanyl that tested positive for ketamine and heroin and Desalkylgidazepam was found in a drug seizure. Dr. Kandola said it’s unclear if anyone was exposed.
“Now in the Northwest Territories, we’ve seen toxic substances mixed together. “Benzo-dope” is when they add a benzodiazepine to Fentanyl and we’ve seen crack cocaine, which is a stimulant mixed with a benzodiazepine with fentanyl or fentanyl analogues and mixed with other substances. And this is the first time with fentanyl I’ve seen so many different substances, having the benzodiazepine, the ketamine, the heroin,” said Dr. Kandola.
“We don’t have ideas what the quantity was it could be just trace,” she explained.
Kandola said it’s not a good mixture because fentanyl and heroin are very strong painkillers and if someone is in overdose, it can cause someone to stop breathing.
“Ketamine has been used for anesthesia again, it can stop people from breathing. So having those together and then benzodiazapine is a sedative, and so it also is like a downer and it can make someone having that combination can cause sedation, excessive drowsiness and Increase your ability to not be able to control your breathing, which is why having all these threats that impact your breathing put together in one substance is of concern. The one thing that we always ask people is not to use drugs alone, if they are going to use small amounts, have someone witness and then go slow, don’t. The fastest way of using drugs is injecting, which is not what you want,” she explained.
It’s important that anyone using drugs has naloxone on hand and knows how to call for help, because naloxone will help with the heroin and the fentanyl but it’s not going to provide much help with reversing the ketamine or the benzodiazepine.
“People could be excessively drowsy, but you want to make sure people are breathing and then they can get to a health facility where people can support their breathing. And also what people can do when they see someone who looks like they’re in an overdose that they provide naloxone right away, and every couple of minutes until they can get help from a health centre where people can more formally provide support for breathing and monitor the patient,” advises Dr. Kandola.
The Chief Public Health Officer warned that any drug people get from the street is potentially dangerous.
“You really don’t know what you’re getting. There’s no such thing as a pure substance; they are being mixed,” she warned.
“On the streets, the unregulated supply can be anything, can be filled with other fillers too. That could be bad for your body, bad for your health. It may not necessarily stop your heart from beating, but it could injure your liver or your kidney,” explained Dr. Kandola
