News/Canada/Saskatoon

Kayla DeMong fought tears as she described the dire conditions on the front lines, pleading for more help from the province as staff at the harm reduction site she leads try to keep up with the recent spike in overdoses."My staff here cannot do this anymore. This week they've reversed 23 overdoses just here," DeMong, executive director  of Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR), said on Thursday.DeMong's comments come in wake of 67 overdoses and one suspicious death reported by the Saskatoon Fire Department from March 9 to March 11. On Wednesday, the government activated the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) — something it said will help support and co-ordinate the province and organizations on the ground like PHR.The day that announcement was made, DeMong said PHR staff were mitigating ...

The Saskatoon Fire Department responded to nearly 50 reported overdoses in the past week, prompting an alert from the government.In an overdose alert, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health said Saskatoon Fire responded to 25 overdoses in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday, then another 23 from Friday morning to Saturday morning. The alert did not state if any of those overdoses were fatal. Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon says an additional five people overdosed within its safe consumption site on Friday, much more than the one or two overdoses every few days they usually see.According to Prairie Harm Reduction, some of the drugs that are causing the overdoses could contain drugs that aren't opioids — given they tested drugs that contained benzodiazepines — and will not respond to naloxone...