Two overdoses -- and one near overdose -- in just 45 minutes.
The incidents happened Friday afternoon at the Guelph Community Health Centre on Wyndham Street North.
It’s believed all three consumed purple fentanyl.
“It’s often combined with heroin or cocaine or other drugs and sold on the street in that form,” says Staff Sgt. Steve Gill.
All three survived their overdoses thanks to trained health professionals.
Raechelle Devereaux, the Community Health Centre’s executive director, says drugs that contain synthetic opioids can be unpredictable.
“Somebody could use an amount of a substance that they would use under any other circumstance and be fine. In this situation, they use the same amount and simply die.”
There have already been 35 overdoses at the centre since it opened back in May 2018.
“We see that as 30 plus lives we’ve saved because we’ve been here.”
In order to reduce the risk of overdose it’s recommended that people never use alone, always carry naloxone and utilize overdose prevention sites that are supervised by health professionals.
