VERTER, Mexicali NGO, Saved About 500 Lives From Opiate Overdose In 2021

ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST / EDITOR

Verter is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), which treated around 500 people who were about to die of opiate overdoses in 2021 in Mexicali, they were people who came to them or the community reported them, there are no exact numbers because there is a sub-registry of these cases, explained Lourdes Angulo, who is part of this group of civil society, which works in what is called “damage containment”.

She assured that cases of opiate overdose have increased considerably with the arrival of substances such as fentanyl, which is a synthetic opiate, consumed pure or mixed with heroin, a lethal drug for addicts, said Lourdes Angulo, who works in this Civil Association. VERTER gives out syringes and condoms as a method to prevent the spread of hepatitis C, AIDS and other diseases that can be transmitted by sharing syringes or when addicts have sex without any precautions.

They also support with blood tests for Hepatitis C, AIDS and other diseases, as well as the use of NALOXONE, with which they have managed to save the lives of opiate addicts who suffer from overdoses. He explained that they managed to save the lives of those people with overdoses, applying a substance called Naloxone, which counteracts the effects of Fentanyl and heroin, a social problem that exists in Mexicali and almost the entire border, which is addiction to opiates and that it has become a serious problem.

VERTER is an NGO working to help people with addiction issues, mainly opiate, supplying them with syringes, condoms, and other supplies in order to avoid Hepatitis C, AIDS and other disease and infection contagions.

The Government does not have sufficient financial or human resources to address this opiate addiction problem, however, the idea of the López Obrador Government is to cut off all financial support to civil associations, in part due to the lack of knowledge of the work of organizations such as Verter, on the part of the Chief Executive.

Verter is a civil society organization that works on the so-called harm reduction, a concept that involves supporting ‘people with addiction problems with syringes, condoms and other supplies that prevent deaths from overdoses and transmission of diseases such as AIDS, Hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Rowing against the stream, Verter and many other non governmental organizations fight to support sectors of society that would otherwise be defenseless in order to confront the problems they face, while in the Federal Government they have pigeonholed all Civil Associations as corrupt, and in that way they have left without resources organizations that really do a great job, like Verter en Mexicali.