Elevate your local knowledge

Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!

Select Region

Illicit Drug Alert: Kelowna and Kamloops

Byline: SUBMITTED/Interior Health

Interior Health is urging residents using or considering using drugs to take extra caution in the wake of an increased number of fatal overdoses in the Lower Mainland on Friday, which may be an indication that more lethal illicit drugs are also present in Interior Health.

While not using drugs at all is the best way to avoid overdose and other health impacts, health-care providers recognize some people will continue to use drugs.

The following tips can help reduce the risk:

  • Don’t mix different drugs (including pharmaceutical medications, street drugs, and alcohol)
  • Don’t take drugs when you are alone. Leave door unlocked. Tell someone to check on you.
  • Use less and pace yourself. Do testers to check strength – take a small sample of a drug before
  • taking your usual dosage.
  • Keep an eye out for your friends – stay together and look out for each other.
  • Carry a Naloxone kit and know how to use it. A list of locations to get a kit can be found on the
  • Interior Health website.
  • Recognize the signs of an OD: Slow or no breathing, gurgling or gasping, lips/fingertips turning
  • blue, difficult to rouse (awaken), non-responsive.
  • If someone thinks they may be having an overdose or is witnessing an overdose, follow the SAVE
  • ME steps and call 9-1-1 immediately, do not delay.

Interior Health has Mobile Supervised Consumption Services available in both Kelowna and Kamloops.

More information on these services is available at:
https://www.interiorhealth.ca/AboutUs/Leadership/MHO/PHEmergency/Pages/Mobile-ODPS.aspx

For more resources and links related to overdose and substance use, visit:
https://www.interiorhealth.ca/AboutUs/Leadership/MHO/Pages/PHEmergency.aspx

FYI contains information submitted from the public and is displayed exactly as it was received. Information is clearly attributed in bylines and not created by iNFOnews.ca staff. For more information, please contact the referring organization. If you have questions about FYI, or would like to submit information to FYI, please send directly to fyi@infonews.ca.

Join the Conversation!

Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?

Create a free account

Taylor Rae

SUBMITTED/Interior Health

Before university, Taylor spent a year abroad living in Thailand which encouraged her to finish her degree studying in Turkey, both experiences have made her an avid traveller. Taylor graduated from Thompson Rivers University with a degree in Communications and Public Relations. Although born on the coast, Taylor has lived the majority of her life in Kamloops and enjoys what the region has to offer. In her spare time, you can find Taylor volunteering in the community or out on an adventure with her friends and her dogs.

Related Articles