00:00Police suspect synthetic opioids could be a factor in the death of a man and a woman
00:07in separate incidents yesterday.
00:09When we start seeing overdoses, and particularly fatal overdoses, that's when we have those
00:14concerns that there's something wrong.
00:19High purity levels in the drugs are another possible factor, prompting authorities to
00:24urge users to get their drugs tested.
00:27On the computer we have a library of about 30,000 different things.
00:31So once the instrument's done its run, it will match it and it will give us a confidence
00:35score.
00:36CanTest has now been operating in the city for two years.
00:40They're concerned by the appearance of fentanyl, which has fuelled an opioid epidemic in the
00:44United States, and nitazines, a group of synthetic opioids which can be lethal even in tiny amounts.
00:52It's incredibly strong.
00:53Some can be hundreds of times stronger than heroin, stronger than fentanyl.
00:59CanTest and pharmacies have free boxes of naloxone, a drug that can temporarily reverse
01:05or reduce the effects of an opioid overdose.
01:08This is something where stigma can kill people and knowledge can save lives.
01:14The ACT government stands by its decriminalisation of small amounts of illicit substances.
01:20To a certain extent, the government can only do what it can do, and that is put in place
01:26a policy framework that supports people to seek help, to be able to access health services.
01:33But prohibition, trying to stop people from taking drugs, has never worked anywhere in
01:37the world.
01:38We don't want to have to be going to these incidents.
01:40We don't want the drug community affected.
01:42We don't want their families impacted.
01:44We don't want people dying on our streets.
01:47Prevention rather than prosecution seen as the priority.
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