Agency looking to open overdose prevention site in Saint John amid 'poisoned' drug supply
CBC
A harm reduction organization in Saint John is preparing to apply to Health Canada for a licence to operate an overdose prevention site, as they grapple with a "poisoned" drug supply on the street.
Julie Dingwell says three clients of Avenue B died last week, and a couple more in the week before that.
Some were experienced drug users, but Dingwell said the addition of fentanyl in street drugs means people no longer know what they're taking.
"We're just in constant grief here with losing people," said Dingwell, who is Avenue B's executive director. "We lost a couple people that we've worked with for 20 years."
Avenue B is planning to build a new facility on Waterloo Street in Saint John's uptown, but in the meantime, Dingwell is looking for another spot to open the overdose prevention site.
For her, the need is urgent, a matter of life and death.
"We just want to keep people alive," she said.
It would be the second overdose prevention site in the province, after Ensemble Greater Moncton opened a site late last year. The clinic offers people a safe place to test and use their substances, where staff can intervene if they have a negative reaction.
In March, after a spate of opioid overdoses in the community, at least two people were revived at the Moncton site.
"Their site has gone very well," Dingwell said.
"I'm hoping the province looks at that and says, 'Oh look, it's been so successful in Moncton, we're ready.'"
Saint John Police Chief Robert Bruce said officers used to see a call for an overdose once every three or four days. Now, Bruce said it's not uncommon to see one or two calls per shift.
Overdose calls were up 30 per cent between January and April of this year compared to 2021, which was already up significantly over the same stretch in 2020, according to Bruce.
In some of those cases, people have died and Bruce said testing from the coroner has found "much higher levels of fentanyl."
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