Spike in drug overdoses prompts public health emergency in BC
Posted April 14, 2016 11:55 am.
Last Updated April 14, 2016 3:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – For the first time in BC history, the chief medical health officer has declared a public health emergency as the health minister says the increase in opioid drug overdoses has become a crisis.
By doing this, the province hopes to give medical health officers real-time information on when and where overdoses are happening. Right now, they doctors only get information when an overdose happens when someone dies and it takes a few weeks even then.
The numbers are pretty shocking and can explain why this drastic step is being taken. Just a few years ago, BC saw between 200 and 300 opioid overdose deaths per year. There were over 400 last year and we’ve already had 200 this year, putting us on pace to see more than 700 this year. Fentanyl being mixed with all kinds of illicit drugs is also a big contributor to these numbers.
Health Minister Terry Lake says this declaration will allow them to deploy resources when and where they’re needed. “It will mean when public health officials see a rash of overdoses in a certain area or a pattern emerging that they can send outreach workers and community agencies to proactively target their efforts.”
He adds it’s also about awareness. By calling this a public health emergency, the hope is people using these drugs will recognize how important it is to protect themselves by getting access to the antidote naloxone.
Surrey’s top cop admits there have been a number of fentanyl overdoses in the city.
“You’ll recall about two or three months ago, I advanced an initiative to arm our first responders with Narcan so that we could, in a meaningful way, save people’s lives,” says Assistant Commissioner Bill Fordy.
“The issue of fentanyl and overdoses is across the region… across the province, and actually is an epidemic in Alberta and communities within Ontario as well. So, it’s not an issue that’s restricted to a particular postal code,” he adds.
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