Thirty-one overdoses on potent heroin in two days at Insite

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Thirty-one people have overdosed on potent heroin at Vancouver’s supervised injection site in the past two days.

It’s believed to be a record for the facility, which opened 11 years ago.

Gavin Wilson with Vancouver Coastal Health says 15 people overdosed at Insite yesterday, and there were 16 overdoses on Sunday.

Wilson says this year, contaminated heroin has caused 10 to 12 overdoses a week at the facility, where users inject their own drugs, using Insite’s clean needles under the supervision of a nurse.

The VPD issued a warning to drug users on Sunday, when a dozen people had overdosed on potent heroin. Police believed the death of one woman was related to the drug.

Coroner Barb McLintock says the woman in her 20s died in a hostel in the Downtown Eastside but toxicology tests have yet to confirm the cause of death.

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