Overdoses could become the leading cause of unnatural deaths in BC

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) -Accidental overdose rates are on track to become the province’s leading cause of unnatural deaths.

BC’s chief coroner worries the province could see 750 deaths this year.

“The number of people dying from illicit drug overdoses is higher than any other unnatural category,” BC chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said.

If the rate of deaths remains the same, Lapointe said accidental overdoses will overtake car accidents and even suicides. She said she fears the province could see 750 overdose deaths this year.

The province saw 308 apparent overdose deaths between January and May this year, up 75 per cent over the same period last year, according to new data from the BC Coroners Service. Fentanyl was detected in 56 per cent of the deaths, up from 31 per cent in 2015 and part of a growing trend over the last four years.

Despite more deaths, Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall says their ramped up efforts to get 8,000 overdose kits with naloxone out has helped saved lives.

“If you’re asking if I think we should’ve acted earlier, then I’d say yes,” admits Kendall. “What we were doing in terms of ramping up the distribution of naloxone and education and working with our partners, we think it’s had an effect. We think it would have been even worse without those steps.

Province calls for more supervised consumption sites

The higher deaths rates have even prompted the province to call for more supervised consumption sites (SCS). Health Minister Terry Lake said Vancouver Coastal Health wants to open five SCSs while facilities could also open in Kamloops, Kelowna and Victoria.

“Our ministry is very supportive,” Lake said. “We have seen the evidence. We know that we can reduce overdose deaths, other related harms, and hospitalizations and connect people to services once they’re ready to accept that help.”

Lake said he has also sent a letter to his federal counterpart Jane Philpott asking Ottawa to review Bill C-2, the Respect for Communities Act and reduce the barriers to opening SCSs. The 2015 act gives the federal health minister sole discretion on whether to approve new SCSs and placed barriers for sites to get exemptions from federal laws about illicit drug use.

“(Philpott) has indicated to me, on a personal level, that they will take a different view that the former government in terms of approval and providing exemptions for safe consumption sites,” Lake said.

Lake said he would leave it to health professionals to decide where new clinics should go and whether they should be standalone facilities or attached to current medical centres.

He said he supports federal legislation to restrict pill presses, commonly used for opioids like fentanyl, because if provinces created the rules piecemeal, drug makers could just cross boarders into places that do not have laws.