Canada - Harm-reduction sites, doctors struggling with new type of overdose

[sekio]

Doctors and frontline health-care workers say they are responding to an increasing number of overdoses involving opioids contaminated with benzodiazepines, restricted substances normally used to treat anxiety.
Benzodiazepines don’t respond to emergency treatments such as naloxone, or Narcan, which usually temporarily reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. Instead, drug users are left groggy, disoriented and suffering from memory loss. That means users may remain unconscious even after naloxone is administered, according to Overdose Prevention Society director Sarah Blyth.
“It’s way more challenging for all frontline workers because a person will overdose, you’ll give them Narcan, which normally brings them back into consciousness and fully awake and alert … but this means you give them Narcan and they still need to be monitored for most of the day,” said Blyth.
“It adds to everything. It adds to the crisis. It’s another level of stress.”
Blyth said the prevention society saw 16 such overdoses in a 24-hour period last weekend.

B.C. harm-reduction sites, doctors struggling with new type of overdose

“This is the last type of compound we’d want to see mixed with opioids, but here it is.”

www.standard-freeholder.com

oh boy, so those two drugs you Shouldn't Mix are being sold together on the streets... yikes

if you ever needed an excuse to exit the west coast dope game this would be a good time

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

Along with FENT, no kidding. Although seems like a quick EMIT test would spot the benzos, and Flumazenil could be dispensed at the A&E/ER. By then it's well into the danger zone and I imagine plenty of people don't always make it to the emergency department for a myriad of reasons. Once there I don't know the interactions between Narcan & Flumazenil either OR whether an EMIT would even pick up novel benzos or 'RC' benzos.

H spiked with a Flubro or ClonazoLam would make for a rough ride. Although I didn't think they were water soluble.

You might need to school me on this as I'm missing something or it was that Afghani Bullrider earlier ?

 

[cj]

I'm calling bullshit. Benzos aren't injectable in a water soultion. Hell not even snorting would be effective

 

[sekio]

A lot of people out here on the west coast smoke their dope, etizolam can indeed be volatilized

 

[cj]

That makes sense. I just couldn't imagine a real habit without IV I guess

 

[Foreigner]

This just reeks of conspiracy to kill homeless addicts in the DTES. They know people are fighting back with narcan training so now they add benzos.

 

[sekio]

It probably wouldn't be too hard to bind etizolam or any other BZD to some sort of cyclodextrin or other complexing agent to increase water solubility