Make fentanyl test strips ubiquitous, like free condoms and COVID rapid tests, says grieving mother
CBC
Colleen LaRocque's 29-year-old son, Mitchell Sveinbjornson, died from a drug overdose in August 2020 after doing cocaine that was laced with fentanyl at a party in southeastern Saskatchewan.
She believes he would have thought twice about taking cocaine if he had known it contained fentanyl, the far more potent and often deadly opioid.
"They managed to get their hands on some tainted cocaine and there were four of them that were there and three woke up. One didn't," she said.
"My son had everything going for him. Everything. Loved his job. Loved his kids. Loved his family. This was just a poor decision."
The registered nurse would like to see fentanyl test strips become as ubiquitous in Saskatchewan as free condoms and COVID-19 rapid tests. The small strips of paper can detect the presence of fentanyl in pills, powder and injectables, but can't determine the quantity or strength of the fentanyl.
LaRocque would like to see the take-home tests being offered at health centres and pharmacies in Saskatchewan, as well as the libraries, gas stations and grocery stores that handed out free rapid COVID tests during the pandemic. She says naloxone kits should be given out at the same time.
"If we could push, like we did rapid testing for COVID, man we could save some lives," she said.
More than 1,200 people have died from drug poisoning in Saskatchewan in the past three years. The overdose crisis has stolen loved ones from every part of the province and every walk of life. You can learn about some of them here.
While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to curb the overdose crisis, some grieving families say more services and awareness would help prevent deaths.
Cass Wardell, 24, sought help from a psychiatrist for his anxiety and took prescription medicine.
His brother, Don Wardell, said "when the prescriptions ran out and my brother couldn't get any help anymore, he turned to street drugs. So, after he turned to street drugs, that it was it. It was game over."
In May 2020, Cass bought Xanax pills from someone he trusted to self-medicate for anxiety. He didn't realize they were mixed with a deadly dose of fentanyl. Before he fell asleep that night, he divulged that he had big plans to surprise his mother and his fiancée, whom he shared a son with, the next morning for Mother's Day.
He never woke up. His mom found him dead from a fentanyl overdose.
"There was fentanyl laced in the Xanax without my brothers knowledge," Don said. "It doesn't matter [who is giving you the drugs], if that's your bro, that's your sister … there's a chance that it could be laced with fentanyl and that it's not 100 per cent safe. You're taking that chance every time."
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