The B.C government is hoping last month’s dip in opioid-related deaths is a sign the fentanyl crisis is starting to reverse its course. However, one of the provinces leading experts on addiction says critical pieces are missing from the government’s plan to stem the tide of overdose fatalities.
The death toll from illicit opioids in B.C. fell to 49 in August from 55 in July. August was the second month in a row to see a slight dip in overdose deaths. However, the province is still on track to surpass the number of deaths on an annual basis -- 488 people have died so far this year, versus 505 reported in 2015.
Dr. Bernie Pauly with the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C. says there is no question that lives will be saved by the province’s deployment of thousands of naloxone kits to front-line health workers in hospitals, jails, and health centres. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control is also expanding its “take-home” program for the nasally administered opioid blocker.
However, Pauly says the most effective safeguards against drug-related deaths are administered before an overdose, not after.
“This is a social issue, so we need to look at decriminalization and regulation of drugs,” she told CTV News Channel. “That’s the policy discussion I haven’t seen starting yet.”
Pauly says greater access to opiate substitution therapy and supervised injection sites will help stem the number of drug addicted individuals turning to fentanyl for its powerful high relative to other street drugs.
Vancouver Costal Health could have as many as four new supervised injection locations as early as next year. Dr. Patricia Daly said the authority is applying to Health Canada to expand the number of harm-reduction sites.
Pauly says such institutional efforts will need to be coupled with broader public awareness and education in order to encourage more drug users to seek treatment for addiction and access emergency services when needed.
“Stigma is a huge barrier to people calling for help and getting access to services,” she said.
Still, many recreational drug users are inadvertently consuming fentanyl when it’s cut into other drugs like cocaine.
Unscrupulous drug dealers sometimes add fentanyl to their products to make them more addictive. The powerful opiate is 100 times stronger than morphine and 20 times stronger than heroin.
B.C. chief coroner Lisa Lapoint said Wednesday that 264 people have died as a result of taking the highly dangerous substance with another drug so far in 2016 -- up from 82 deaths a year ago.
Pauly says the B.C. government will need to think broadly in order to continue seeing fewer opiate-related deaths, noting that other provinces will follow B.C.’s lead as fentanyl continues to spread to communities across the country.
“You have to think about a comprehensive multi-prong strategy,” said Pauly. “We still have a long way to go in our response.”
