A drug overdose or overdose is drinking or application of a drug in great quantities and results in a deadly state or death. Overdose of drugs can be done intentionally or accidentally.
Overdose concerns
Two women waiting in their cells who are scheduled to appear in court never made it before the judge, but rather they were given emergency medical care due to overdose of drug called opioid. The sheriffs and the staff of the courthouse start giving the two women life saving measures such as first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The women were brought back to life. They were later taken to the hospital. The medication called naloxone nasal spray which is used to reverse the effects of overdoses of opioid was not used in this incident. However, according to the spokesperson of the Ministry of Justice, the medication is available in transport vehicles and at the courthouses. It is not the first time a near-fatal overdose happened in the courthouse.
Another incident happened in the courthouse where 3 men were also overdosed with drug. They were given first aid and CPR by responding paramedics and they all survived. A man was charged with trafficking drugs in connection with the incident.
A man working in the provincial courthouse was charged with heroin trafficking in connection with the overdoses of the three men. The men were held in custody in the cells of the provincial courthouse when they start to show signs of drug overdose.
According to a witness, the accused was present before the incident and made a hand-to-hand exchange with 2 of the three men. Shortly afterwards, the men showed signs of an overdose. The accused was charged with drug trafficking and breach of undertaking or breaking a contract or a promise.
Improved security measures
The province is implementing to install body scanner in the courthouse jail to stop smuggling of drugs inside the jail. It was a recommendation from the Coroner’s office following an investigation of the death of another prisoner in a Youth Center in Saskatoon. The Coroner’s Office investigates all natural, unexplained and unexpected or unattended deaths and also called the medical examiner. Similar incidents happened in other facilities. A female brought some contraband in, and place them in one of her body cavities. The women died later of drug overdose.
People inside jails are one of the at-risk groups of people usually affected by opioid crisis because people in the correction system have history of substance abuse. Furthermore people with addictions end up in jails and lose their physiological tolerance for the drugs they are using. With a few days of abstinence they become less responsive to the drug. If they take drugs again even for a few days, can result to accidentally overdose.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid training and for more information, check out these sources:
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/drug-overdose-treatment
https://www.wikihow.com/Do-Basic-First-Aid
https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-cpr/basics/art-20056600