Laura Macneill says that a regular customer of the reduction of Avenue B damage died of a fentanyl overdose last week.
These tragedies have become increasingly common, said the executive director, noting that Avenue B personnel have witnessed an overdose of people while sitting in Saint John’s office.
“We see these people, we look at their face, we know their history,” Macneill said. “We feel connected to them. We want to help them. And when … they pass, that’s extremely difficult.”
In 2024, fentanyl was detected in 57 percent of opioid -related deaths in New Brunswick. In 2023, the powerful opioid was present in 56 percent of lethal overdose, according to a report issued this month by public health.
For the second consecutive year, Public Health says that opioid deaths involving fentanyl were at their highest point in 2024. Avenue B The reduction of damage in Saint John is seeing the growing crisis first hand.
The figure by 2024 translates into 42 of the 78 registered deaths. Most of those deaths occurred in people between 40 and 49.
Brands two records in a row for deaths related to opioids involving fentanil in New Brunswick.
“It is an extremely toxic drug supply that we have here in New Brunswick, and specifically in Saint John,” Macneill said in an interview.
“This is something we are listening to and seeing every day on the front line.”
Avenue B has been offering drug tests on the site and is increasingly seeing the presence of other toxic additives, including the Xilazina veterinarian.
The concurrence, or the presence of more than one medication, was marked as “of remarkable concern” in the Public Health Report.
“Of the 549 deaths of toxicity of the apparent substance between January 2020 and December 2024, two or more drug classes (for example, opioids, alcohol, benzodiazepines, stimulants, etc.) were present between 501 (91 percent) deceased,” says the report.
“Of the 316 deaths who died from an accidental intention and pending the death of opioid toxicity since January 2020, one or more non -opioid drug classes were present between 312 (99 percent) deceased.”
Macneill says that the increasingly toxic drug supply has meant that a typical naloxone dose is not so effective in reverse an opioid overdose.
“We have been seeing an increase in the complexity of the overdose to which people are responding, which means that they often require five to six doses of naloxone, and each kit comes with three,” he said.
The public health number also shows the distribution of Naloxone, a common first -line treatment for opioid overdose, has constantly increased to 4,215 kits in 2024.
That compares between 2,000 and 3,000 kits in the previous two years, 634 in 2021 and 146 in 2020.
While each person who enters Avenida B has their own history, Macneill says that many have fallen into the lack of housing after aging with government care.
She says that improving access to mental health care for this population is essential to reduce opioid deaths.
“Ultimately, they are all people,” he said. “They are brothers, sisters and moms and parents.”
The Minister of Health, John Dornan, believes that the plan of the province to improve access to mental health services, ultimately, will help address opioid deaths.
“The opioid crisis is also a mental health crisis. Therefore, we can rarely destroy them and treat them separately,” Dornan said in Thursday in Fredericton.
“We have written legislation that allows us to enter to help homeless people with the care they need … the lack of housing is a large part of our problem.”
Dornan said the approach would not imply an involuntary treatment as proposed by the previous government. He observed changes in the Mental Health Law, which were approved this month, to improve supervised community care plans.
