FARGO (KFGO) – After a concerning spike in drug overdoses over the weekend, Fargo police, fire, and public health officials are providing some additional detail on the incidents and speaking out about the growing challenge fentanyl opioids are presenting in the community and what steps can be taken to prevent overdose deaths.
Robyn Litke Sall is the Prevention Coordinator for Fargo Cass Public Health. She says fentanyl use is an epidemic.
“We are seeing in it drugs that don’t typically contain fentanyl, such as meth. So we recommend that individuals use fentanyl testing strips to test their product before they use because of the presence of fentanyl in so much of the supply here locally, and nationwide,” she said.
Fargo Police Captain George Vinson is in the Criminal Investigation Division. He said all four of the weekend’s overdose victims the department investigated were in their 20s. Three of those were fatal – two were 20-year-old women and the third was a 28-year-old man. Vinson says detectives are investigating to see if a potentially lethal batch of drugs could be circulating the community but, so far, police have not identified any connection between the overdoses.
“Our intelligence and analysis unit reached out to West Fargo Police and Cass County Sheriff’s office and they are not seeing the same spike,” he said. “They hadn’t had any (overdoses) reported as of yesterday.”
In the only non-fatal overdose of the four over the weekend, the victim was revived with the naloxone nasal spray Narcan which Litke Sall says has been a critical tool in preventing overdose deaths. She says while the Cass County Coroner reported that year-over-year opioid deaths jumped 40% in 2020 and then further increased 29% in 2021, she can’t imagine how many deaths the city would see if we didn’t have free access to Narcan in the community and all first responders having it available and providing it.
Fargo Fire Division Chief Tim Binfet spoke of Narcan’s effectiveness.
“It’s amazing. We can go to a scene – someone is pulseless, not breathing…they are effectively dead. And within minutes (of being administered Narcan), they are walking around,” Binfet said.
Litke-Sall says people in the community have been successfully using Narcan as well. She said it is easy to administer and requires very little training to know how to use.
“Last year at our Harm Reduction Center alone we distributed 6335 doses and we had 459 reported “saves” and those were self-reported so we believe that’s probably under-reported because we are relying on people to come back and voluntarily tell us that they used Narcan provided at that site to save a life,” she said.
Fargo’s Harm Reduction Center is located in the old police station downtown, across from the Civic Center. Narcan is distributed there for free and those who choose to get Narcan at the site remain anonymous.
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