Recommendations to prevent overdose deaths among young people in BC
Posted January 27, 2016 5:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) -The report, “Preventing Death After Overdose” looks at the number of people who have died from 2009 to 2013. It finds an average of five teens and 31 young adults pass away each year from the cause.
In many cases, the overdoses occurred when someone else was around.
“If there’s a critical takeaway message from the review it’s that if you witness an overdose or medical distress, getting medical help immediately. It’s critical in saving lives of someone who has experienced an overdose,” explains Chair of the Child Death Review Unit, Michael Egilson.
The report also suggests the physical education curriculum in schools be updated in order to teach kids about phoning 9-1-1.
Most of the overdoses that occurred in that time period were caused by mixing drugs or combining drugs with booze.
“A quarter of them had consumed a drug other than what they thought they were consuming. For example, they may have thought they were consuming cocaine and it may have also contained something like fentanyl in it. About 30 per cent of the youth had previously been hospitalized for an overdose.”
