As of Friday naloxone kits will be offered across Alberta for free of charge and without prescription. The province has provided 3 million additional dollars to the budget to use toward the kits that allow for more time to get someone who may be overdosing to the hospital. Associate Minister of Health Brandy Payne says since December they have tripled the amount of available naloxone kits across Alberta from 3000 to 9000.
“To date, over 2000 kits have provided to Albertans that are at risk of overdosing. Although tracking the kits is difficult, we know that more than 120 have been used to save lives. Because reporting is voluntary, we can assume many more kits have actually been used”
Since summer of 2015, HIV North Society in Grande Prairie has been distributing them to take-home.
With 274 fentanyl overdose related deaths in the province in 2015, Minister of Justice Kathleen Ganley says they are working closely with partners in health to combat the drug. She says 29.1 million dollars from the 2016-2017 budget has been invested in the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team.
“Over the last year, ALERT’s five largest fentanyl busts have seized more than 18,800 pills. These seizures occurred between February 2015 and April of 2016.”
One of those major fentanyl busts was in Grande Prairie.
There will be 600 pharmacies across the province providing the naloxone kits.