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In conversation with the new NWT justice minister Louis Sebert discusses issues with incarceration access to justice and what the new green economy could mean for the Northwest Territories. See page 3. Operation food rescue in Hay River What are these Berkshire pigs so excited about Every day they get to sample the best menu in the NWT beer in- cluded - sort of. See page 14. Commissioner opens for teen NWT Commissioner George Tuccaro brought a personal message to Pink Shirt Day in Fort Smith last week. See page 11. Hand games heat up frigid festival in Fort Chipewyan Sub-30 temperatures forced thecancellationofsomeevents at the annual carnival in Fort Chipbutthehandgameswere not among them. See page 8. V IS IT W W W .N O R J.C A A national award winning independent newspaper serving northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories since 1977 1.00 March 2 2016 Vol. 39 No. 42 GNWT grapples with fentanyl crisis By CRAIG GILBERT A near-overdose involving the dangerous new super-painkiller fentanyl has the GNWTs depart- ment of Health working to expand the availability of a proven life-sav- ing antidote. Deputy minister of Health and Social Services Debbie DeLancey told the Journal the department began working with the NWTs eight health authorities to deter- mine which centres would be ca- pable of stocking naloxone which instantly reverses the eect of an opioid overdose and how many have trained sta to use it after the RCMPreportedanear-fatalfentanyl overdose in Yellowknife on Feb. 16. Currently there are medical sta trained to administer naloxone in the capital Inuvik and Behchoko. Weve been aware of opioid ad- dictionbeingaproblemincreasingly although we dont have statistics at this point in the NWT. But the fen- tanyl crisis it has sort of been in the last year that its been on our radar screen she said. Were working to make sure we get to a stage where every region has naloxone available. Its early in the process. In other re- gions they are at various stages of having scheduled training for sta to use it or not having scheduled yet in which case were now sort of aggressively working with them to get that done. In some cases we havent heard back. In the regions I haventmentioneditsamatterofstill gatheringtheinformationasopposed to denitely saying its not there. DeLancey expected to have a clearer picture sometime this week. Its a big system and we have eight authorities so sometimes it takes time for us to get information but were treating this as urgent so werepullingthattogetherrightnow. DeLancey said prescription drug abusewasahottopicatahealthmin- istersforuminVancouverinJanuary. One of the benets we get from those national meetings is being able to learn from best practices DeLanceysaid.Sowereintheearly stages of setting up a prescription drug monitoring program. This is an issue all the health ministers are concerned with for sure. In other jurisdictions such as On- tario a monitoring program allows health professionals to track when prescriptions of controlled sub- stances like fentanyl are issued and when a patient has lled it. They are also able to track trends so for example if a patient Were in the early stages of setting up a prescription drug monitoring program. Debbie DeLancey Department of Health is shopping around and seems to be getting an opioid prescription lled within a week at three dier- ent pharmacies the red ag would pop up DeLancey said. Some jurisdictions use an elec- tronic system others are still on paper.DeLanceysaidthedepartment has to decide what system would work best in the NWT. An electronic system may sound more advanced but it would be about two years be- fore it could be implemented. Not all of the health authorities are on the same software platforms so to createaterritory-widesystemwould require a lot of patching. A legislative barrier related to privacy kept the GNWT from cre- ating a common system earlier. The MLAs of the 17th Assembly paved the way for a central information- sharing system when they changed the Pharmacy Act to set the stage for the creation of regulations that allow the monitoring of prescrip- tion drug use. DeLancey said social marketing and awareness programs sponsored by Health and Social Services and designed to warn children of the dangers of drug abuse may warrant are-working.InparticularMyVoice MyChoiceasocialmediacampaign that ran from 2011 through 2015 is being updated. In terms of response we invest a fair amount in prevention and promotion public health programs wellness programs trying to work in the schools and trying to do awareness programs for youth she said. Those have tended not to this point to be directed specically either to opioids or fentanyl and it may be time to look at some more targetedpreventionandpromotion. See Changing on Page 15. Ranger Sergeant Alexander Kidd from Fort Simpson Patrol mounts his snow machine during a ride out on the land Feb. 29. Members of 1 CRPG Canadian Ranger Patrol Group from across the Northwest Territories gathered in Yellowknife last week for Exercise DENE RANGER con- ducting live ring and search and rescue drills a snowmobile demonstration and a 1400-kilometre patrol through nine communities around Great Slave Lake. There are 660 Canadian Rangers in 22 Patrols across the NWT. PhotocourtesyofCapt.StephenWatton1CRPG. This is the final print edition of the Northern Journal. Its been a great run. Thank you