Sask. ambulance service sees 500% increase in Narcan use to reverse overdoses

Medavie Health Services West says it’s seen a 500 per cent increase in the administration of Narcan (naloxone), a drug used to counter the effects of opioids in drug overdoses, since 2019.

It was administered 132 times in 2019 and 609 times in 2021.

“This isn't something that was a huge surprise to us when we were running the numbers so we fully expected it,” said director of public affairs Troy Davies.

Those numbers don’t include administrations by police, fire, or bystanders.

“It's a sign of the times, unfortunately not only in Saskatoon but major cities across Canada,” said Davies.

“It's a trend that we're seeing, and I don't think it's a coincidence that it aligns with COVID starting two years ago, and our numbers rocketing from that from mental illness to depression to what we're seeing.”

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Davies says there are also more potent drugs on the streets in and around Saskatoon.

“We have seen patients take up to eight doses of Narcan just to get them back, and that's something. Three years ago we never would have seen that," he said.

The dramatic increase in Narcan administrations is also no surprise to Kayla Demong, executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction.

“We are absolutely seeing more fentanyl coming through, and more people knowingly using fentanyl,” she said.

Demong says 577 people accessed the safe injection site at Prairie Harm Reduction in 2021.

“Regina is definitely showing more of an increase of fentanyl, more rapidly than we are, but it's something that's been steadily increasing here as well,” she said.

According to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, toxicity deaths in the province have increased every year since 2016.

• 2016: 83
• 2017: 89
• 2018: 129
• 2019: 136
• 2020: 267
• 2021: 278
• 2022: 18

Medavie says the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority have partnered with paramedics to distribute more than 29,000 take-home Narcan kits while stocking ambulances with kits to hand out to bystanders when responding to overdose calls.

“We're now carrying Narcan kits in our ambulances, and that's a first for any service in Canada to hand out kits to residents when we arrive on scene," Davies said.

Davies says if there was one “hotspot” where overdoses were happening they would be able to devote resources to that specific area, but the calls are coming from neighbourhoods across the city.

“We also serve the cities of Martensville and Warman, rural communities, so it's not just one localized spot,” he said.

“That's the scary thing about it, is it doesn't matter where you live in the community, what you do for a living, we're seeing it from 18-year-olds to 65-year-olds.”