Chief of police figures an uptick in opioid deaths has occurred
By GILLIAN SLADE on June 10, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade Medicine Hat’s police chief says the number of deaths related to consumption of drugs is up this year. “Every day I read the logs and it seems we have had a bit of an increase in opioid-related deaths,” said MHPS chief Andy McGrogan. MHPS do not get copies of autopsy reports for specific data so McGrogan is talking about his own impression of the numbers. “There seems to be an awful lot of sudden deaths, people who have complex issues related to drug addiction. I wouldn’t say it is alarming but I think it’s up and again that is from me reading the logs every day,” said McGrogan. Previously police generally responded when there was a 911 call about an apparent overdose. McGrogan says now it is Alberta Health Services’ paramedics who are dispatched and police only become involved if specifically called to do so because of violence or if the individual actually dies at the home. That means the statistics police would have accumulated from attending calls where naloxone or narcan were administered to someone who had overdosed, are no longer available. McGrogan says that makes it difficult to compare numbers from last year where MHPS went on all those calls and this year when police only attend a fraction of them. The 911 call would always have been an AHS call but for some time police were being dispatched in addition to paramedics, he explained. If someone is in grave danger and it is clear that police can get to the location more quickly than a paramedic, they would do so, he said. “The bottom line is AHS are responding first. If they need us they call us,” said McGrogan. 12-11
