Author: Antoine

Kelowna Drug Alert

Posted on by Antoine

Kelowna Drug Alert

Interior Heath has issued a DRUG ALERT for KELOWNA after a sample being sold as DOWN was found to contain over 60% Fentanyl and over 10% Bromazolam (Benzodiazepine). There is a high risk of overdose and a high risk of fatal overdose.

Here is a link to download a printer friendly version of this poster.

No matter what or how you use (smoking, snorting, injecting) take steps to prevent overdose

  • Check your drugs before using! Whether using take home fentanyl testing strips or accessing FTIR technicians in your area, drug checking can inform you about what is in your drugs.
  • Crush your drugs into fine powder: Doing so reduces the chance of hot-spots, which are spikes of concentrated fentanyl in the dope.
  • Be a buddy: Help a friend by being around while they are using. Stagger use if you are using together.
  • Smoking is not safer than injecting, be cautious when smoking your drugs
  • Know the risks when mixing drugs
  • When using your substance start with a small amount, and then go slow.
  • Know the signs of an overdose and be prepared with naloxone.
  • If you must use while alone, consider using the Lifeguard app which can connect you with 911 emergency responders if you overdose. Download at the App Store or Google Play.   

Drug Checking Report for Interior Health – March 2023 – BCCSU

Posted on by Antoine

The BCCSU publishes Provincial and regional monthly reports that summarize drug checking results. Here is the March 2023 report from samples collected by Drug Checking Sites across the Interior Health region.

Key Findings

  • In March, a total of 351 drug checks were performed by services offering FTIR drug checking in the Interior Health region.
  • The percentage of opioids testing positive for benzodiazepines decreased from 83.1% to 71.6% in March (126 of 176 samples). Trends may be hard to infer due the large geographic region.
  • Three drug alerts were issued by Interior Health. One pertained to a sample that had been sold as crack cocaine, but instead contained high concentrations of fentanyl, bromazolam, and xylazine..

Find the full report here.

Penticton Drug Alert

Posted on by Antoine

Penticton Drug Alert

Interior Heath has issued a DRUG ALERT for PENTICTON after a sample was found to contain undiluted or “uncut” para-fluorofentanyl, a substance with strength and effects similar to fentanyl. There is a high risk of overdose.

Here is a link to download a printer friendly version of this poster.

No matter what or how you use (smoking, snorting, injecting) take steps to prevent overdose

  • Check your drugs before using! Whether using take home fentanyl testing strips or accessing FTIR technicians in your area, drug checking can inform you about what is in your drugs.
  • Crush your drugs into fine powder: Doing so reduces the chance of hot-spots, which are spikes of concentrated fentanyl in the dope.
  • Be a buddy: Help a friend by being around while they are using. Stagger use if you are using together.
  • Smoking is not safer than injecting, be cautious when smoking your drugs
  • Know the risks when mixing drugs
  • When using your substance start with a small amount, and then go slow.
  • Know the signs of an overdose and be prepared with naloxone.
  • If you must use while alone, consider using the Lifeguard app which can connect you with 911 emergency responders if you overdose. Download at the App Store or Google Play.   

Vernon Drug Alert

Posted on by Antoine

Penticton Drug Alert

Interior Heath has issued a DRUG ALERT for VERNON after a sample being sold as CRACK was found to contain 30-35% Fentanyl, 5-10% Bromazolam (Benzodiazepine) and Xylazine. This is believed to be connected with multiple drug poisoning events in the community. There is a high risk of overdose and a high risk of fatal overdose.

Here is a link to download a printer friendly version of this poster.

 

No matter what or how you use (smoking, snorting, injecting) take steps to prevent overdose

  • Check your drugs before using! Whether using take home fentanyl testing strips or accessing FTIR technicians in your area, drug checking can inform you about what is in your drugs.
  • Crush your drugs into fine powder: Doing so reduces the chance of hot-spots, which are spikes of concentrated fentanyl in the dope.
  • Be a buddy: Help a friend by being around while they are using. Stagger use if you are using together.
  • Smoking is not safer than injecting, be cautious when smoking your drugs
  • Know the risks when mixing drugs
  • When using your substance start with a small amount, and then go slow.
  • Know the signs of an overdose and be prepared with naloxone.
  • If you must use while alone, consider using the Lifeguard app which can connect you with 911 emergency responders if you overdose. Download at the App Store or Google Play.   

Drug Checking Report for Interior Health – February 2023 – BCCSU

Posted on by Antoine

The BCCSU publishes Provincial and regional monthly reports that summarize drug checking results. Here is the February 2023 report from samples collected by Drug Checking Sites across the Interior Health region.

Key Findings

  • In February, a total of 283 drug checks were performed by services offering FTIR drug checking in the Interior Health region.
  • The percentage of opioids testing positive for benzodiazepines increased from 67.2% to 83.1% in February (118 of 142 samples). Trends may be hard to infer due the large geographic region.
  • Four drug alerts were issued by Interior Health. Most pertained to multiple down samples in which high concentrations of fentanyl, or where para-fluorofentanyl was detected. In one of these samples, benzodiazepines were detected via test strip, and in another, xylazine was present in a high enough concentration to be detected by FTIR.

Find the full report here.

Drug Checking Report for Interior Health – January 2023 – BCCSU

Posted on by Antoine

The BCCSU publishes Provincial and regional monthly reports that summarize drug checking results. Here is the January 2023 report from samples collected by Drug Checking Sites across the Interior Health region.

Key Findings

  • In January, a total of 276 drug checks were performed by services offering FTIR drug checking in the Interior Health region.
  • The percentage of opioids testing positive for benzodiazepines decreased from 82.5% to 67.2% in January (80 of 119 samples). Trends may be hard to infer due the large geographic region.
  • Interior Health issued two drug alerts concerning down samples containing high concentrations of fentanyl/para-fluorofentanyl with benzodiazepines present. In one of these samples, the concentration of bromazolam was high enough to be detected by FTIR.

Find the full report here.

Drug Checking Report for Interior Health – December 2022 – BCCSU

Posted on by Antoine

The BCCSU publishes Provincial and regional monthly reports that summarize drug checking results. Here is the December 2022 report from samples collected by Drug Checking Sites across the Interior Health region.

Key Findings

  • In December, a total of 252 drug checks were performed by services offering FTIR drug checking in the Interior Health region.
  • The percentage of opioids testing positive for benzodiazepines in the region increased from 65.5% to 82.5% in December (99 of 120 samples), the highest level recorded in the region to date. Trends may be hard to infer due the large geographic region.
  • Bromazolam was the most frequent benzodiazepine identified in opioid samples this month, indicating concentrations high enough to be detectable by FTIR. Bromazolam was found present in 4 opioid samples.

Find the full report here.

Penticton Drug Alert

Posted on by Antoine

Penticton Drug Alert

Multiple samples of DOWN with higher than average amount of fentanyl have been identified in Penticton.

Sold as Down, Fentanyl – Grey Pebbles

Contains:

  • Higher to much higher than average concentration of fentanyl and fentanyl analogue.

Risk:

High risk of overdose, High risk of fatal overdose.

Using in the cold can increase risk of overdose.

Smoking is NOT safer than injecting. Take care when smoking drugs by using a little at a time and waiting a few minutes, as some effects can take longer to appear.

Overdose response:

Naloxone does not work on Benzos, BUT naloxone will work on the opioid overdose symptoms.  After giving breaths and naloxone, the person may begin breathing normally, but may not wake up. More doses of naloxone should only be given if the person is not breathing normally (less than 10 breaths a minute). If the person is breathing normally but remains unconscious, place in recovery position and stay with them until emergency services arrive.

No matter what or how you use (oral, smoking, snorting, injecting) take steps to prevent overdose

  • Know the risks when mixing drugs
  • If you must use while alone, consider using the Lifeguard app which can connect you with 911 emergency responders if you overdose. Download at the App Store or Google Play.   
  • When using your substance start with a small amount, and then go slow.
  • Use with others or at an Overdose Prevention or Supervised Consumption Site, if one is near you.
  • Know how to respond to an overdose – call 911, give rescue breaths and naloxone.

Here is a link to download a printable version of this poster.

Drug Checking Report for Interior Health – November 2022 – BCCSU

Posted on by Antoine

The BCCSU publishes Provincial and regional monthly reports that summarize drug checking results. Here is the November 2022 report from samples collected by Drug Checking Sites across the Interior Health region.

Key Findings

• In November, a total of 318 drug checks were performed by services offering FTIR drug checking in the Interior Health region.
• The percentage of opioids testing positive for benzodiazepines in the region remained high at 65.5% (112 of 171 samples). Trends may be hard to infer due the large geographic region, and the true rate may be higher than reported here because benzodiazepines, and benzodiazepine-like substances like etizolam, may be missed by drug checking technologies.
• Bromazolam was the most frequent benzodiazepine detected by FTIR, found present in 4 opioid samples

Find the full report here.