Micki Cowan

Police say two men who overdosed in June in Regina took a substance containing fentanyl.

They say the men, age 47 and 41, thought they were using heroin. The men were taken to hospital by ambulance on June 22.

Regina police issue warning after mystery drug sends 2 to hospital

A mystery drug has the Regina Police Service warning the public about the risk of overdoses, while investigators scramble to figure out what it is.

In a recent survey, 56 of 72 respondents in Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton and Miramichi said they use illicit drugs three or more times per day. Sixty of the 72 respondents said they have injected drugs with a needle.

USA-DRUGS/SEATTLE/HEROIN

Two men were sent to hospital in Regina last week after injecting a drug they believed was heroin.

U of S security officers add naloxone kits to tool belts

Protective services staff at the University of Saskatchewan are carrying a new tool they hope never to use. The potentially life-saving medication naloxone can reverse the effects of an overdose and has become the standard treatment for fentanyl overdoses.

Campus officers at Wilfrid Laurier and the University of Waterloo now carry naloxone, an antidote to opioid overdoses.

naloxone-on-campus

Protective services officers at the University of Saskatchewan now carry naloxone, an antidote to opioid overdoses.

Officers sent the substance to Health Canada as part of the investigation. The analysis showed it contained fentanyl.&nbsp;

Both men survived the overdose, but it's prompting police to warn the public not to take chances with their health.

"You never know what you're going to get when you're buying drugs from a dealer," said Kimberly Schmidt with the Regina Police Service.&nbsp;

Signs of an overdose include&nbsp;difficulty walking, blue lips or nails, choking sounds and weak breathing.&nbsp;

Glen&nbsp;Perchie, executive director of emergency room and EMS care for the Regina Qu'Appelle&nbsp;Health Region, said he doesn't consider there to be a fentanyl&nbsp;crisis in the province just yet.&nbsp;

Emergency services in the RQHR&nbsp;had to give&nbsp;naloxone, an&nbsp;opioid&nbsp;antidote,&nbsp;to 48 people between January and August of this year, according to Perchie.

He said during that time, emergency crews&nbsp;responded to 17,431 general calls in total.

"It's a really small component of what we're actually responding to right now," he said.

Glen Perchie, director of emergency and EMS for Regina's health region, says we aren't yet at a fentanyl crisis. 

GLEN PERCHIE rqhr emergency director sept 22 2017

But Perchie&nbsp;was careful to clarify that the situation could very well&nbsp;worsen quickly, especially considering how unpredictable dosages involving fentanyl are.&nbsp;

"If you are using a certain amount of a drug one day and you use the exact same amount the next day, you may actually have very different dosages," he said.&nbsp;

Perchie said there are two key factors in preventing the situation in the region&nbsp;from getting worse: education about the risks of fentanyl and distribution of take-home naloxone kits.&nbsp;

Regina police say two people overdosed in June while using a drug they didn't know contained fentanyl. 

Fentanyl linked to 2 Regina overdoses in June

Not yet a crisis

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