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Calgary addiction survivors warn of contaminated drugs as overdose calls increase
CTV
Calgarians who have survived traumatic overdose experiences are raising awareness of the increasing dangers of drug contaminants as poisoning deaths and EMS calls climb higher.
Calgarians who have survived traumatic overdose experiences are raising awareness of the increasing dangers of drug contaminants as poisoning deaths and EMS calls climb higher.
According to the Alberta substance use surveillance system, the province saw 733 EMS opioid related calls in the month of April, which is a nearly 40 per cent increase compared to the 528 EMS calls for the same month last year.
In 2022, 1,630 Albertans died of drug poisoning deaths of which 92 per cent involved opioids. The province also released data for January 2023 revealing that 111 Albertans died from drug-poisoning during the first month of the year. All but one fatality involved opioids.
Based on data from 1,006 Alberta drug poisoning deaths last year, 80 per cent involved fentanyl. Methamphetamine was involved in 52 per cent, while carfentanil was found in 27 per cent.
“Let’s say you go to a certain dealer that’s supplying your drugs, but maybe they get something different and all of sudden it turns into a game of Russian roulette,” said Sandra Desmazes.
Desmazes is a peer navigator with Alberta addicts who educate and advocate responsibly (AAWEAR). The 46-year-old has struggled with addiction since she was a teenager, she’s overdosed before and lost her husband to an overdose four years ago, but she’s using her lived experience now to help others.
“I deal with poisonings on a regular basis and I know from when I was using fentanyl, to like the stuff that's on the streets right now, that stuff is now cut with the benzos including xylazine and all this other stuff,” she said.