Overdose deaths decrease in B.C., but officials say safer drug supply needed
Credit to Author: Denise Ryan| Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2020 01:13:46 +0000
More needs to be done to deal with province’s overdose crisis even though numbers released Monday by the B.C. Coroners Service show suspected illicit drug deaths in 2019 were down by 36 per cent from the previous year.
According to the coroners report, there were 981 suspected illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2019, nearly three per day throughout the province, although that number will likely increase as investigations conclude. The overall number of suspected illicit drug overdoses was up by two per cent.
“This is a public health emergency, and while we saw a reduction in the number from 1,543 who died in 2018 from drug toxicity, the number is virtually identical to the number we saw in 2016, the year a public health emergency was declared,” B.C.’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said.
Harm reduction measures have made a difference, Lapointe said, and thousands of drug overdoses have been reversed or prevented as a result of the widespread availability of naloxone, overdose prevention, and supervised consumption sites.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said decriminalization and pharmaceutical options for those who are dependent on toxic street drugs is something that needs to be considered. “The stigma associated with being labelled a criminal if you are taking drugs or are in possession of small amounts of drugs for your own use is one of the major barriers that keep people from seeking help.”
Overdose prevention advocate Sarah Blythe said the numbers don’t change the fact that the drug supply on the streets is poisoned.
“I think that we are seeing the light in terms of knowing what we need to do, and identifying who needs the help, but there are toxic drugs out there every day and more than ever causing more severe overdoses,” Blythe said.
“In some ways, we are in the worst stage of the crisis that we’ve ever seen, but we are more capable of dealing with it.”
B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy said her ministry is working as fast is it can to fill the gaps in the system, but cautioned that for families, survivors, paramedics and workers on the front lines, the impacts continue.
“The numbers are still far too high. … The government will continue firing on all cylinders based on four proven pillars of prevention, enforcement, harm reduction and treatment.”
The minister promised more treatment beds, and an investment of $40 million to build two new urban Indigenous treatment centres and to rebuild or renovate six more in rural B.C. First Nations health authorities will release data on overdose deaths in their communities later this spring, but Darcy said First Nations community members are dying at rates that are four times higher than other populations.
Darcy said her ministry has doubled the number of overdose prevention and safe injection sites since taking office, distributed 232,000 naloxone kits throughout the province last year, and has supported a significant increase in the number of patients receiving medication-assisted treatment such as Suboxone and other prescription alternatives, and increased training of physicians and nurse practitioners that can prescribe those medications.
Darcy said the issue of decriminalization rests with the federal government under the Controlled Substances Act.
The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions has an annual operating budget of $9.7 million, down slightly from $10 million last year. The ministry said this budget is not for mental health and addictions services or programs and that the Provincial Government has allocated a total of $608 million to address the overdose crisis and the factors that contribute from 2017-18 through to 2021-22, and the 2019 Budget included an additional $74 million for child and youth mental health and improving access to quality care as a first step toward transforming our system of care.