Fentanyl is the new worst thing, says Whitehorse RCMP Supt. Brian Jones.

He says talk of the opioid these days reminds him of similar discussions the RCMP had about marijuana years ago, when there were concerns it was being laced with other drugs.

“This is the same conversation to the next level times 100,” Jones said today of the fentanyl crisis that was highlighted Monday by Brendan Hanley, the Yukon’s chief medical officer.

Hanley announced the Yukon has seen five suspected drug overdose deaths associated with fentanyl in 2016.

Two have been confirmed, he said. He’s waiting on toxicology reports for the remaining three, all of which took place in the last seven weeks.

Information on gender and age ranges has not been released.

With the number of fentanyl-related deaths in B.C. right now though (where toxicology testing is done), there’s a backlog that’s stretched out wait times.

Since that first death last spring, Hanley said, the Department of Health and Social Services, the RCMP and other organizations have come together to put a plan into action to prevent more deaths.

“It does not discriminate,” Jones said of the drug, which he says is used by a diversity of age groups.

He said his concern going into the holidays is that people at house parties, where they’re all using and consuming, could end up overdosing in those homes.

“These are dangerous times when it comes to taking drugs, and all we can do is say what we know, as well as give some of that basic advice,” he said.

In addition to messaging in the form of the website knowyoursource.ca (which now has a Yukon-specific page), naloxone kits are available at the Blood Ties Four Directions Centre, the Taiga Medical Clinic, and at the Kwanlin Dün Health Centre, all of which give individuals a 15-minute training session on how to use the injection kits.

Hanley said naloxone, an opioid antagonist, works by reversing the depressing effects (including slowing and stopping breathing) fentanyl has on the brain.

“It can get someone out of trouble. It’s like a standby kit to have ready,” said Hanley.

Hanley said the drug, which is injected, is fast-acting, but short-lived, so it’s necessary to call 911 as well as administer the drug, which can act as a stop-gap until definitive help arrives.

That’s how it’s saved lives in B.C. and elsewhere.

Including here.

Last November, Jones said, a Yukoner was brought into the Whitehorse RCMP detachment on unrelated matters when an officer recognized the signs of an overdose in the individual, and administered naloxone.

Patricia Bacon, Blood Ties’ executive director, warns however, that a naloxone kit shouldn’t be considered a solution to an overdose.

“It is not a guarantee that it can or will work, especially when a person is exposed to fentanyl,” she said today.

“Naloxone has to work very hard to reverse the effects of fentanyl.”

Hanley said fentanyl has been in use in the medical community for around 30 years, and the thing that makes it effective for medical use (its painkilling potency) makes it a dangerous street drug.

The synthetic opioid is 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine, and is difficult to detect in powdered drugs, where it’s most often found.

Because the pills are mixed by unregulated methods, there can be huge variation from one to the next.

There are hot spots, where one corner of a pill has fentanyl and the rest doesn’t. So two people splitting one pill can have very different reactions.

Bacon said that makes it difficult to use safely.

“One of the pieces of advice we would normally give people is to test a small amount of the drug first, but because the supply right now is so unpredictable, and there’s the reality of what we call hot spots, that technique of testing your drug first to make sure it’s safe is not a reliable way of making sure that your drugs are going to be safe, or that you will be safe,” she said.

She said people should never use alone, and never wander away from people to lie down.

To that end, one of the most important things anyone can do is learn to recognize the signs of an overdose.

Bacon said it can be easy to assume someone is just drunk and passed out, because an opioid overdose looks similar.

The person will be slumped over, passed out, with blue lips, and slow or undetectable breathing. Snoring is heavy, and if you try to wake them, they are non-responsive.

The sternum test, she said, is a good one. If you rub the back of your knuckles at the centre of a person’s chest bone, they should wake up because it hurts.

Realistically, she said, it’s going to be hard to get kits into the hands of everyone who needs them. Even more important, she said, is educating people on how to spot an overdose, and having them call 911.

“That’s the very best thing that we can be doing for people we care about in our community,” she said.