As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wind down, the province must urgently shift its focus to the opioid crisis, which killed at least 160 people in May, including 29 on Vancouver Island, B.C.’s chief coroner said Tuesday.
Lisa Lapointe says safe alternatives to toxic illicit drugs need to be available throughout the province, and the government needs to take steps to reduce the stigma around drug use.
The 160 illicit-drug toxicity deaths in May — 5.2 deaths a day — was the second highest May total ever recorded. The highest was 177 in May of last year.
Victoria continues to be one of the top three townships losing people to illicit drug toxicity in 2021, along with Vancouver and Surrey.
In the first five months of 2021, there were at least 851 illicit drug toxicity deaths, which surpasses the previous high of 704 deaths reported for those months in 2017 by almost 21 per cent.
Of those 851 deaths, 139 were in Island Health, including 65 in Victoria, 19 in Nanaimo, and 12 in Courtenay. More people are dying from smoking or inhaling drugs than from injecting them.
There’s no way to measure the catastrophic impact the deaths have had on every community in the province, said Lapointe.
For a year and five months, the province has consistently recorded more than 100 overdose deaths each month.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson said as COVID-19 restrictions lift and people socialize more, people need to be aware that illicit drugs are more toxic and unpredictable than ever before. “The drugs you might use today are not the same as they were one or two years ago,” she said.
The overall rate of deaths due to toxic illicit drugs in the province now stands at 39.3 per 100,000 residents —38.1 in Island Health — with every health authority having a rate greater than 33.
So far this year, 85 per cent of illicit drug toxicity deaths have occurred inside, the majority in private residences. The greatest number of deaths are in the 50-59 age group.
The service says 27 per cent of drug samples tested in April and 25 per cent in May contained “extreme concentrations” of fentanyl, which are the highest rates reported since at least the beginning of 2019.
Carfentanil, a more potent analogue of fentanyl, has been detected in 75 deaths in 2021, which is already higher than the 65 deaths in which the drug was identified last year.
As well, 60 per cent of samples tested in May showed the presence of benzodiazepines — tranquilizers under such names as Valium and Xanax — “which create significant life-saving challenges for first responders when used in combination with opioids,” said the coroners service.
Opioids are a broad group of pain-relieving drugs that can include the illegal drug heroin, synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, and prescription pills under such names as OxyContin and Vicodin as well as codeine and morphine.
All of the drug toxicity deaths are due to mixed drug toxicity, with fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine/amphetamine and other opioids the four most frequently detected substances.
Malcolmson said every drug user — whether recreational or regular — is at high risk. She suggested such life-saving measures as only using drugs when someone else is present to get help if needed and carrying and knowing how to inject drug-reversing Naloxone.
A list of supervised consumption sites and overdose-prevention sites that provide free drug checking and other harm-reduction services can be found at StopOverdoseBC.ca
“As British Columbians gear up for a social, rejuvenating summer after much sacrifice and restraint, please have these conversations with your family and friends,” said Malcolmson. “The more we talk openly about drug use, the more lives we can save.”
- With a file from The Canadian Press
