Pubdate: Tue, 15 Aug 2017
Source: Penticton Herald (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.pentictonherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/664
Author: Jim Taylor
Page: A6

WE CAN EVEN TURN ANTIDOTES INTO ADDICTIONS

B.C. is heading for another record year for fentanyl overdose deaths.
Despite making Naloxone antidote kits widely available, the death rate
is up 88 per cent over last year, which was also a record year.

Last year, according to figures available online, B.C. had 935 deaths
from drug overdoses. This year, the province had 780 deaths by the end
of June. If the rate continues, the province will hit 1,400 deaths by
the end of the year.

But in the welter of data, I find two facts interesting.

Excluding fentanyl-related deaths, the overdose rate has held more or
less constant, below 300 a year.

And there has been not one overdose death at a supervised injection
site. Not one.

That suggests to me that Naloxone antidote kits are largely a public
relations gesture, a placebo to placate a public that refuses to
consider legalizing drugs.

Yes, hard drugs. Not just marijuana and alcohol.

Here's another interesting statistic. Only 10 per cent of drug
overdose deaths have happened in public places. Put another way, 90
per cent of overdose deaths happened in people's homes, apartments,
and offices.

That implies that these are respectable people with secret addictions.
Who don't want parents to know that their children's teacher is
addicted to heroin. Who don't want investors to know that their broker
uses cocaine.

That's pure hypothesis, of course. After all, the whole point of a
secret addiction is keeping it secret.

But it's no secret that professional people can function quite
effectively while dependent on addictive substances - as long as they
have a dependable supply of a reliable quality. They don't get either
when they have to buy drugs on the street.

Fentanyl, as news reports endlessly remind us, is about 100 times more
potent than heroin. It's also cheaper. Drug dealers can enhance
profits by lacing expensive heroin with fractions of fentanyl. The
user gets the same high; the dealer gets the dollars.

I expect fentanyl deaths will spike during July and August. Summer is
music festival season in B.C.

Put a lot of partying young people together with intoxicating music,
and you've got a ready market for drug dealers.

There's currently a controversy about allowing Naloxone kits at music
festivals.

Some festivals allow people to bring their own Naloxone kits. The
underlying assumption would be that people are going to do drugs
anyway, so let's prevent as many deaths as possible.

Some festivals banned the kits entirely. On the assumption, I suppose,
that if the risks of overdose are high enough, people won't use drugs.
A few centuries ago, the same mindset reasoned that if you make the
penalty for stealing a loaf of bread harsh enough (hanging, say)
starving people won't steal.

Still, other festivals permit only medical personnel to have Naloxone
on hand. Perhaps they're assuming that you can't trust people to use
the antidote properly. They might inject themselves with an antidote
when they don't really need it.

I think the third group may have grasped the real potential for
misuse.

Naloxone is not without risks. It can, I gather, lead to
hallucinations, loss of consciousness, pulmonary edema, and cardiac
arrhythmias, to say nothing of withdrawal symptoms.
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MAP posted-by: Matt