06/05/2026
Our thoughts and hearts throughout have been resting heavily with our community partners and fellow front line in the Moncton region as they face some trying and scary days with their people.
Fred Rogers' (Mister Rogers) famous quote reminds us to look for the helpers, they are there. Take a moment to check on them too, they carry so much, especially now.
Dozens in Moncton suffer overdoses from possibly tranquilizer-laced fentanyl.
Emergency responders and harm reduction workers in the Moncton area saw a spike in overdoses this past weekend, possibly related to the presence of a potent veterinary tranquilizer in the local unregulated drug supply.
Moncton fire Chief Conrad Landry said his department responded to 52 calls of suspected overdoses between noon Friday and noon Monday, which is a “significant increase."
“Normally, we can go to four or five overdose calls per day,” Landry said.
Ambulance N.B. spokesperson Christianna Williston said the organization received 65 calls over 72 hours in relation to suspected overdoses in the greater Moncton area, which includes Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe.
Josue Goguen, the front line supervisor for harm reduction organization Ensemble, said that Friday was the worst day he has seen at Ensemble since the organization opened its supervised consumption site five years ago.
“This weekend has been very hard,” Goguen said.
Ensemble staff responded to multiple overdoses at the same time, and had to deliver additional naloxone to community partners also experiencing the spike.
Goguen said it’s too early to confirm the cause of the sudden increase, but it could be the presence of medetomidine, a veterinary tranquilizer increasingly being detected alongside fentanyl across the country.
He said many people were in “heavy sedation," and sometimes did not revive even after being administered naloxone.
Naloxone is used to reverse the effects of opioids, such as fentanyl, but does not have the same effect on tranquilizers.
“What we find is with the naloxone, we can get their vitals back to normal, get them breathing,” Goguen said, but “for a long period of time after that, we have to keep an eye on them.
“The naloxone does work, but it doesn't work as well, because of the tranquilizer in there.”
Goguen said the extra monitoring has stressed the capacity of the organization.
The nature of the unregulated drug supply is “unpredictable,” Goguen said.
“We don't know exactly what's coming in, how it's been cut,” which makes it difficult for front line staff to prepare.
In recent years, the Moncton fire department has seen a decrease in overdose calls, even though its overall medical calls continue to increase.
Chief Landry attributed that to increased training of front-line workers who can administer naloxone and sometimes revive someone suffering from opioid overdose without calling emergency services.
“This particular weekend might put a kind of a spike in that whole trend,” Landry said.
At one point on the weekend, two Moncton fire crews were attending separate overdose calls, Landry said, leaving just three of five stations free to respond to other emergencies.
The department was ready to call on mutual aid services from neighbouring departments, just in case, he said.
But starting this July, emergency medical calls will put less strain on emergency resources.
Landry said the department currently sends four firefighters and an engine to emergency medical calls. But starting July 1, they will send two firefighters in a new smaller vehicle, designated for calls in the core of the city.
“We're going to see how that changes and how that affects our response volume,” Landry said.
Charlie Burrell of the Humanity Project said he first heard reports of high numbers of overdoses on Friday night and witnessed a number himself on Saturday and Sunday.
He expressed concern that the public perception of the fentanyl crisis is sometimes skewed.
“This isn't a homeless issue,” said Burrell.
"This is a drug issue.
“Homelessness is only the end result of the problem.”
Burrell operates a recovery program at a farm in rural Albert County. He said one of the clients that will soon move to the farm has been on a waiting list for more than a year.
“We don't have enough resources when it comes to mental health and addiction,” Burrell said.
“It's such a multifaceted problem that it's like, how do you get ahead of it?”
Credit:CBC
