Overdoses from toxic drugs claim the lives of more than six people a day in British Columbia, and are the leading cause of unnatural deaths in the province, according to the Chief Coroner.
Lisa Lapointe said there were 201 overdose deaths in October, bringing the total for the first 10 months of the year to 1,782 deaths, the highest on record in a calendar year in British Columbia.
“This crisis is going from bad to worse. The supply of toxic drugs has become more and more toxic, ”said the Chief Coroner.
“And people are dying every day at an unprecedented rate in every community. So I think it’s a collective failure, ”she added.
Almost 80% of those who died in October were men, and about 71% of them were between the ages of 30 and 59.
More than 8,500 people have died from drug overdoses since 2016, the same year the province declared a public health emergency.
“These are terribly difficult days,” said Ms. Lapointe, visibly moved.
“And it’s so disheartening to see so many lives cut short, despite the many sincere efforts to help. However, to put it simply, we are failing, ”she argued.
Drug toxicity is the leading cause of all unnatural deaths, surpassing vehicle crashes, homicides and suicides combined, Lapointe said.
While the potent opioid fentanyl has been linked to 84 percent of overdose deaths this year, Lapointe said benzodiazepines are a factor in the increase in the number of such deaths.
Opioids respond to naloxone, a drug to temporarily reverse the effects of an overdose, but not other substances, she said. Most people get these substances on the black market, where the supply is not regulated, she added.
“So very few people die with just one substance in their system,” said Ms. Lapointe. It is a toxic cocktail of several substances. We don’t know if they really intended to take two or three of these substances. “
Since the province declared a health emergency in April 2016, it has taken several steps to try to stem the crisis, including opening up supervised consumption sites, offering a safe supply program that allows doctors or nurses practitioners prescribing pharmaceutical alternatives and providing more drug treatment spaces.
“I think at first we probably thought that if we did a few little things, a few relatively minor things, it would sort itself out. This did not happen, ”said Ms. Lapointe.
While the highest number of deaths has been recorded in urban centers such as Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria, the coroners’ service notes that death rates are at record levels in all health authorities across the province.
Ms. Lapointe said that one of the challenges in the fight against the overdose crisis is the lack of concrete data, especially on the number of people who use drugs and of what type.
“We hear that the commonly used number is that 90,000 people in our province are addicted to opioids,” she said.
Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said the historic number of overdose deaths is tragic and painful.
“As Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, I feel the grief of British Columbians and I sense their frustration,” she told a press conference. Almost everyone in this province knows someone whose life has been taken by the toxicity of illicit drugs. I am so sorry for every lost life. ”
British Columbia is working to implement breakthrough treatment programs to curb the number of deaths, the minister said.
“We are fighting on many fronts to save lives and connect more people to the services they need and deserve,” said Malcolmson.
She argued that British Columbia has doubled the number of overdose prevention and supervised consumption sites, is the first province in Canada to prescribe a safe supply, and has asked the federal government for an exemption for decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs.
The province is also opening hundreds of treatment and recovery beds across the province, she said.
“We all feel the urgency of this crisis,” said Ms. Malcolmson. We don’t accept the loss of life, not a minute. ”