New Brunswick poised to join class-action lawsuit against opioid industry for health damages
A proposed law would allow New Brunswick to join a multimillion dollar class-action lawsuit against more than 40 pharmaceutical players involved in the opioid industry.
Bill 58, the Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, is meant to help recoup funds which the health-care system has lost because of the opioid epidemic.
The government bill went through second reading in the legislature on Tuesday, and so far appears to have the support of all parties.
Listen to the report from CHMA:
Local MLA and Green Party health critic Megan Mitton (Memramcook-Tantramar) told the Legislative Assembly that any funds won through legal action should be used to deal with addiction-related issues.
For example, she called for more safe consumption sites, facilities where people can use substances indoors under the supervision of trained staff who can intervene in case of an overdose.
Ensemble Moncton recently opened an overdose prevention site in downtown Moncton, the first of its kind in New Brunswick. The organization also installed a vending machine-style service in Sackville to distribute material such as sterile syringes.
A wave of overdoses in Saint John has also led to calls for a safe consumption site in that city.
Among other changes, Mitton called for more widespread availability of Naloxone kits, which can rapidly reverse an overdose.
“We hear from firefighters, we hear from other first responders that they’re administering Naloxone kits regularly,” she said.… Continue
Suspected overdose death in Sackville Friday; advocates call for harm reduction, safe supply
A young man died Friday night in Sackville from a suspected overdose.
The Southeast District RCMP responded to a 911 call just before midnight on Friday, and upon arriving at Uncle Larry’s bar on Main Street in Sackville, found a 24-year-old male with no pulse. Corporal Brian Villers said he could not confirm the exact cause of death until an autopsy was completed, but it appeared to be due to an overdose.
Villers says this is the only sudden death reported to the Sackville detachment recently that is suspected of being an overdose. However, support workers have reported a string of overdoses in nearby Moncton recently, all seemingly connected to a similar substance.
High risk synthetic opioid in circulation
Debby Warren is the executive director of Ensemble Moncton, an organization which specializes in harm reduction for people using drugs and suffering from addiction. Warren says there is a dangerous supply of a synthetic opioid pills called Shady 8s circulating in the region. The pills get their name from the pharmaceutical-grade pill they are manufactured to imitate, Dilaudid 8.
Warren says she knows of six recent overdoses in Moncton all connected to a similar substance, all in people who survived with the help of a drug called Naloxone and having people nearby to administer it.… Continue
The overdose crisis remains an “ongoing, serious problem” throughout Canada
Content Warning: The following story discusses opioid addiction and overdose. The CHIMO helpline is available 24/7 at 1-800-667-5005.
If you suspect that you or someone else has overdosed, call 911 immediately.
Donald MacPherson is the director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
In MacPherson’s words, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) is “a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to improve Canada’s approach to drugs.”
The CDPC is participating in a regional community dialogue project across the country called “Getting to Tomorrow.”
Avenue B Harm Reduction, Ensemble Moncton, and AIDS New Brunswick are participating in the “Getting to Tomorrow” project, which took place Tuesday (November 17) and today (November 19).
Donald MacPherson: It’s called “Getting to Tomorrow: Ending the Overdose Crisis.” It’s responding to the crisis that started four or five years ago in various parts of the country. BC, Alberta, Ontario… now more parts of the country as the overdose crisis has expanded. It really is trying to note the urgency of the situation for people who are using drugs and accessing the illegal market, which is deadly toxic, since four or five years now. It’s also about getting to tomorrow getting to a new vision for an approach to drugs in Canada. Our approach is based on laws and policies that were developed in the early 1900s that stigmatize, criminalize, marginalize, and punish people who use substances.… Continue