Pubdate: Fri, 15 Apr 2016
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Cindy E. Harnett
Page: A1

HEALTH OFFICER DECLARES EMERGENCY OVER SPIKE IN DRUG OVERDOSES

200-plus fatal overdoses since January; B.C. declares a public health
emergency

B.C.'s provincial health officer declared a public health emergency
Thursday over an alarming and consistent spike in drug-related
overdoses in the province.

Dr. Perry Kendall said this is the first time he has taken the
"extraordinary" step of exercising his emergency powers on a local and
regional basis under the Public Health Act.

"This is, frankly, a crisis," he said at a news conference at the B.C.
legislature. "It is a public health emergency."

Kendall will draft an order to allow medical health officers
throughout B.C. to collect immediate and more detailed information
from B.C. emergency rooms and first responders on fatal and survived
overdoses of illicit drugs to identify immediate risks and prevent
further overdoses.

The information will be collected by the provincial health officer and
analyzed at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. The information
collected will be protected as confidential medical records and will
not be shared with police, Kendall said.

Previously, overdoses were reported only if someone died, and the
information was not immediately available.

"This is the first step in making that happen," Kendall
said.

"Over the next few weeks, I'll work with medical health officers,
health authorities, emergency room staff, paramedics and other first
responders and the B.C. Coroners Service to determine how best to
collect and share the data."

In the first three months of this year, the B.C. Coroners Service
reported more than 200 illicit drug overdose deaths.

"At this rate, the total for 2016 could exceed 700 or even 800,"
Kendall said. "And this is happening despite educational outreach
initiatives, awareness campaigns, good Samaritan laws, and a massive
expansion of take-home naloxone, a drug which rapidly and safely
reverses opioid overdose."

Last year, there were 474 deaths from apparent illicit opioid
overdoses, a 30 per cent increase over 2014 - and almost two times the
number that died in motor vehicle crashes in 2015, Kendall said.

The majority of drug-related deaths in 2015 were in the Lower
Mainland, but all regions of the province have been affected, he said.

The province has also seen a spike in drug overdoses involving
fentanyl. In 2015, fentanyl was detected in about 30 per cent of
overdose deaths involving illicit drugs, up from five per cent in 2012.

B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake said action had to be taken to get
real-time information on overdose deaths.

"This is a public health crisis, and it's taking its toll on families
and communities across our province," Lake said. "The recent surge in
overdoses is a huge concern for us."

Lisa Lapointe, B.C.'s chief coroner, said fatality data gathered by
coroners - including results of toxicology tests in suspected
overdoses - are routinely shared with public-safety partners in a
timely manner to support death- and injury-prevention measures.

"I am encouraged by the provincial health officer's additional focus
on addressing the increasing numbers of overdoses we are seeing
throughout the province, both fatal and nonfatal," Lapointe said in a
statement.

The declaration of a public health emergency comes on the heels of
several other measures to prevent fatal drug overdoses: harm-reduction
programs including needle distribution and collection and opioid
substitution treatment, bad-drug warnings, awareness campaigns, and
the distribution of free naloxone training and kits.

Access to naloxone, which reverses the effects of overdose from opioid
drugs such as morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl, is already proving to
save lives, Kendall said.

Last month, pharmacies across B.C. were granted permission to sell
naloxone without a prescription. In January, the emergency medical
assistants regulation was amended to permit licensed fire rescue first
responders to administer naloxone.
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MAP posted-by: Matt