Pubdate: Sat, 05 Aug 2017
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Sarah Petrescu
Page: A3

23 DIE FROM ILLICIT-DRUG OVERDOSES IN JUNE ON ISLAND, DOUBLE MAY TOLL

Health officials say crisis worsening despite bid to end it

Island Health was the only health authority in B.C. to see an increase
in overdose deaths in June, according to statistics released Friday.

At least 23 people on Vancouver Island died from an illicit-drug
overdose in June, up from 11 in May, according to the B.C. Coroners
Service. This brings the total to 123 deaths in the first half of this
year. The total for all of 2016 was 160.

Dr. Murray Fyfe, a medical health officer with Island Health, said the
dip in May was the anomaly - most months have seen death tolls in the
mid-20s.

He said it's hard to pinpoint the cause of the fluctuations.

It "could be related to the variants in the drugs circulating," he
said. "It's really unpredictable." The statistics also showed Victoria
remains among the top three municipalities for deaths, along with
Vancouver and Surrey.

The latest statistics show the number of overdose deaths in B.C. in
2017 is on pace to eclipse last year by more than 60 per cent. The
deadly opioid fentanyl, which is several times more potent than
heroin, is now present in nearly 80 per cent of illicit-drug deaths.

"There is no other category of preventable deaths with these kinds of
numbers," said chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, noting that without
fentanyl in the drug supply, the number of overdose deaths per year
would remain at about 300.

"I have not seen anything like this is my career."

Across B.C., more than 111 people died of illicit-drug overdoses in
June, bringing the total for the first half of the year to 780. In
2016, the worst year on record, a total of 967 people died. In 2015,
there were 519 deaths.

Lapointe was joined at Friday's press conference by the province's
chief medical health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, and the minister of
addictions and mental health, Judy Darcy.

All acknowledged that the crisis is worsening despite efforts to
curtail it. There have been efforts to expand access to the opioid
antidote naloxone and rapid-access treatment, and several emergency
overdose-prevention sites were opened. Federal approval has been
received for supervised-consumption sites, including one in Victoria.

"We need to do more," said Kendall, citing ideas such as making
naloxone kits and training available online to reach rural residents
and those who would not otherwise access public services.

Darcy said one of the issues her ministry hopes to address is a lack
of treatment and recovery options.

"We don't have treatment on demand, and we know people are waiting in
emergency rooms and as outpatients," she said. "We don't have a system
where you ask for help once and get help fast."

Katrina Jensen at AIDS Vancouver Island said the number of deaths in
June on the Island is "really upsetting and incredibly sad."

She said each month, front-line workers in the organization, which has
offices across the Island and operates overdose-prevention sites, hope
for some sign of improvement.

In the past few months, they have trained hundreds of people to
administer naloxone.

"There are a small number of people reaching out to us that we haven't
seen before, which is promising because the greatest risk is to people
using alone," said Jensen. But the increasing rate of overdoses and
the year-long wait for Victoria's first supervised consumption site to
open is daunting.

"We will keep doing what we're doing. We need to focus on what's
happening in front of us," she said.

"I'd like to see more engaging with family members who know people in
their families are doing drugs and to talk about how to reach out and
help."
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MAP posted-by: Matt