A drug chemically similar to medication for anxiety and sleep disorders that is being cut into heroin and fentanyl is suspected of contributing to a spate of overdoses that leave some users unconscious for hours at a time.
Front-line workers say it has been particularly troubling responding to such overdoses because, unlike a simple opioid overdose, victims do not regain consciousness immediately after being treated with naloxone, as they are still sedated. Naloxone reverses only the effects of opioid overdoses.
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Dr. Ahamad said St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver had multiple overdoses of this kind every day last week.
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