Text alerts for toxic drugs now available in the northern B.C.

PRINCE GEORGE — A new text health alert system has been launched across Northern Health.

It’s in response to the toxic drug emergency and uses text messaging to send alerts as a public health response to prevent drug poisonings and deaths and provides timely information and up to date resources to people who use drugs and community members.

You can opt in for toxic drug alerts by texting the keyword JOIN to ALERTS (253787).

The Toxic Drug and Health Alerts system also allows subscribers to anonymously submit information that Harm Reduction teams can use to make alerts as informative as possible. This includes information such as the dates and locations of drug overdoses, physical descriptions of the drug and packaging, where the substance was purchased, and what it is believed to be – and can be submitted by texting using the keyword OD.