‘We can go to five overdoses in a row’: Regina police sergeant describes challenges of overdose crisis

A call where two people are overdosing in the same house, or one where someone is overdosing in a car — the drug overdose crisis is taking a toll on a lot of people in Saskatchewan, including those who end up responding to those calls.

“There are times during a 12-hour shift that we’re working, whether it’s a day shift or a night shift, that we could be attending — specifically in my area south district — at least three or four overdoses,” explained Sgt. Donna Wall with the Regina Police Service.

It seems Regina is the epicentre of overdose deaths in the province.

New numbers released for the first 11 months of the year show Saskatchewan will likely set another record for overdose deaths in 2021 – up to 406 confirmed and suspected overdose deaths. The record was set in 2020, with 328 confirmed and suspected overdose deaths.

The current total for 2021 is nearly five times higher than the total confirmed deaths a decade ago.

Half of the deaths currently confirmed were in Regina, at 105, and is nearly twice as high as the next community – Saskatoon, with 56.

Police, like paramedics and firefighters, are called to overdoses. And officers may have to keep everyone safe and complete the call, or if they’re the first on the scene, they may have to administer the life-saving drug naloxone – sometimes referred to by the brand name Narcan.

The last overdose Wall went to, there were two overdoses in one house in central Regina. She said when she arrived, other officers were already there, along with EMS and Regina Fire.

“EMS was treating an individual that had overdosed in the basement – so there were two people from EMS that were attending to that person. And then there was a second person that was overdosing that was upstairs,” said Wall.

The police officers helped the firefighters treat the second person by providing naloxone.

“That entire incident was chaotic. There were a number of emergency responders that were involved in this (and) there were a number of people at the house,” said Wall.

Wall said they had to check and make sure they were safe, find the drugs that were used, and make sure no one else was going to take them.

Wall said about an hour after that call, they had to respond to another overdose.

And sometimes, with the strength of current drugs, Wall said one dose of naloxone isn’t enough. She remembered a call she responded to when someone was overdosing in a car and it took three doses of naloxone to revive them. The most Wall has seen used is five doses.

Wall has been policing for 28 years and said things, from then to now, have changed dramatically.

“When I started back in the early ’90s the drug of choice was perhaps PCP, cocaine, that sort of thing. And of course, alcohol is always a contributing factor to all of the calls that we attended to,” said Wall. “But over the past couple of years I’ve seen an increase in crystal meth use and that seemed to be the game-changer.”

She pointed to fentanyl too as extremely deadly.

“It’s a drug that I didn’t expect to run into in my career that has impacted so many people’s lives,” she said. “And it’s not just typically the person that’s the victim, it’s the families that are impacted by it, and it’s the after-effect.”

In the coroner’s numbers for 2021 up to the start of December, 144 of the confirmed overdose deaths involved fentanyl and 106 involved methamphetamine toxicity as part of the cause of death.

When Wall started, she said they might see an overdose once a month or maybe once a week.

The individual calls can be difficult for police officers, and not just because they have to be aware of their own safety so they aren’t exposed to the drugs.

“A lot of times, even when you’re talking to the individuals after the fact, you do have a concern for their well-being (and) what’s going to happen after now to them,” said Wall.

As for going to so many calls in a row, Wall said that can take a toll.

“When you see the numbers get so high, you wonder what is it I can do – and I can only do so much when I attend these calls,” said Wall.

“You just wish that there were some outside forces that could possibly help improve these people’s situation and just try to understand why it’s happening and why it’s occurring so much.”

Wall doesn’t think adding more first responders will fix the growing problem; she said it needs to be a community-involved approach.

“The individuals that are addicted to these drugs, they need the help. The family members that are impacted by it need to be advocates to try to determine how is it that we can resolve this problem that we have,” said Wall.

Wall encouraged people to help and be supportive of any friends and family they might have who use drugs and said not to let them use alone.