Island Health is warning people who use drugs of a spike in overdoses in the past week due to a stronger drug supply in Victoria.
Dee Hoyano, medical health officer, said there’s regular ongoing surveillance of overdoses reported to Island Health from various sources.
“They showed that we were experiencing a higher number than average of overdoses in the south Island-Victoria area in the last week,” Hoyano said. “We don’t know of any direct deaths.”
Overdose deaths are tracked by the B.C. Coroners Service. There were 23 overdose deaths in Victoria in the first five months of this year.
Victoria’s supervised consumption site and overdose prevention sites, for example, have experienced an average of four overdoses a week for the past three months.
PLEASE RT: there have been an increase in overdoses in #Victoria in the past week. Please share this advisory. pic.twitter.com/HdOlizP5BC
— Island Health (@VanIslandHealth) August 7, 2019
“In the last week, that’s more than doubled, specifically in the Victoria area,” Hoyano said. “We just want to alert people and put the caution up that they need to be aware of what they are using, going slow, and using a smaller dose initially so we can avoid further overdoses.”
In the past such spikes have been related to a more potent drug than users thought they were consuming.
“So people are more likely to overdose with a smaller amount,” Hoyano said. The effect of the drug comes on faster and more powerfully than expected, she explained.
Hoyano urged people who use drugs to get their substances checked for their potency or possible contamination, use a smaller amount to gauge the impact of the substance, avoid using drugs alone, and have an overdose response plan ready including the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
Overdose prevention sites include in Victoria include the Harbour at 941 Pandora Ave., AIDS Vancouver Island at 713 Johnson St., and Rock Bay Landing shelter at 535 Ellice St.
