ACT police issue public health warning after two drug overdose deaths in 24 hours

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Police and drug diversion services are warning of potentially lethal drugs circulating in the Canberra community. They say four people in the act have died from overdoses in the past two months, including two in the past few days.

Transcript

00:00Police suspect synthetic opioids could be a factor in the death of a man and a woman

00:07in separate incidents yesterday.

00:09When we start seeing overdoses, and particularly fatal overdoses, that's when we have those

00:14concerns that there's something wrong.

00:19High purity levels in the drugs are another possible factor, prompting authorities to

00:24urge users to get their drugs tested.

00:27On the computer we have a library of about 30,000 different things.

00:31So once the instrument's done its run, it will match it and it will give us a confidence

00:35score.

00:36CanTest has now been operating in the city for two years.

00:40They're concerned by the appearance of fentanyl, which has fuelled an opioid epidemic in the

00:44United States, and nitazines, a group of synthetic opioids which can be lethal even in tiny amounts.

00:52It's incredibly strong.

00:53Some can be hundreds of times stronger than heroin, stronger than fentanyl.

00:59CanTest and pharmacies have free boxes of naloxone, a drug that can temporarily reverse

01:05or reduce the effects of an opioid overdose.

01:08This is something where stigma can kill people and knowledge can save lives.

01:14The ACT government stands by its decriminalisation of small amounts of illicit substances.

01:20To a certain extent, the government can only do what it can do, and that is put in place

01:26a policy framework that supports people to seek help, to be able to access health services.

01:33But prohibition, trying to stop people from taking drugs, has never worked anywhere in

01:37the world.

01:38We don't want to have to be going to these incidents.

01:40We don't want the drug community affected.

01:42We don't want their families impacted.

01:44We don't want people dying on our streets.

01:47Prevention rather than prosecution seen as the priority.

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