Number of overdose calls in Vancouver spikes in 2017
Posted March 9, 2017 9:38 am.
Last Updated March 9, 2017 7:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A renewed warning about using illicit drugs as new numbers show the ongoing opioid overdose crisis isn’t getting any better.
Vancouver Fire reported 174 overdose calls for the week of February 26th to March 5th, that’s the highest number recorded in the city so far this year. Crews say last week’s number of overdose calls was also really high when compared to historical data.
The majority of the calls were said to be on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, but the number of cases according to city staff, increased outside the downtown core last week.
In a statement from the city, it says Vancouver Police also reported 14 suspected overdose deaths last week which is six more than the previous week. Toxicology results haven’t come back yet, meaning final overdose death numbers haven’t been confirmed yet by the BC Coroner.
“Drug overdose deaths in the fentanyl crisis continue to have a devastating impact throughout Vancouver,” says Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. “The city shoulders a huge burden of the drug overdose response, and our first responders and front-line community workers are at a breaking point. The federal government recently gave $10 million to the BC government to fight the overdose crisis — funds that are desperately needed to save lives by broadening access to clean prescription drugs and substitution therapy, and expanding treatment-on-demand services to help solve this public health emergency.”
A public health emergency was declared in BC last April, however, more than 920 people died of drug overdoses last year in BC and apparently 25 per cent of them were in Vancouver.
In Abbotsford, Constable Ian MacDonald says drugs were seized last month that police expected to include fentanyl, the opioid blamed for a huge spike in overdose deaths across the province.
When those drugs were tested, both fentanyl and carfentanil were found.
“Carfentanil is used as an elephant tranquilizer, and obviously to find it in street drugs, illicit drugs here in Abbotsford, super concerning and obviously the reason that we have to give a warning.”
Carfentanil has been found in other municipalities in the Lower Mainland, but hasn’t been found in Abbotsford until now.
The drug can have 500 to 1-thousand times the potency of fentanyl.
