In recent years, cocaine was prevalent in the community, but in the last few months, any overdose calls involve the use of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Since the start of 2021, the Weyburn police has responded 11 times to calls to assist the Weyburn EMS on a drug overdose but as Chief Blunden noted, they don’t even hear about most overdoses. In one particularly eventful weekend in January, there were two deaths and one overdose where the person was able to recover. More recently, WPS had three overdose calls from Feb. 19-21, and one person was taken to hospital in Weyburn then Regina in critical condition.
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WEYBURN The first month of the new year didn’t leave Weyburn police members with much to celebrate; just a hard reminder of that city’s drug overdose issues.
Three men overdosed on fentanyl in 36 hours. Two died. One was revived with a naloxone shot, but he didn’t want any other help.
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Chief Jamie Blunden says those mid-month drug calls were small glimpses of a larger, glaring issue in Weyburn: Overdoses from hard drugs have a strong hold on the southeast Saskatchewan city.