More than 10,000 killed in BC overdose crisis: coroner

B.C. More than 10,000 lives have been lost to illegal and toxic drug deaths since the declaration, the chief coroner said.

In the first half of 2022, British Columbia There were 1,095 accidental overdose deaths, the highest recorded in the first six months of the calendar year.

Last year, he had 1,071 deaths in the same period, contributing to his record 2,264 deaths in 2021.

His 1,095 deaths this year bring him to 10,168 deaths from the opioid overdose crisis. 2016 — A grim milestone in an epidemic that continues to worsen despite measures taken by governments and repeated calls for action from supporters.

"The declaring of a public health emergency (in 2016) was due to the rising number of deaths," Chief Medical Examiner Lisa Lapointe said at a news conference Tuesday. said Mr. “From an average of 2.7 deaths per day now, we find that in 2022, her number of deaths per day will increase to her six.”

Mortality from illicit drug addiction in BC. He rose from 20.4 per 100,000 in 2016 to 43.6 in 2021, more than double the 20.5 he has across Canada. "B.C. this country leads the way in deaths from drug addiction," she said Lapointe.

The coroner's office's latest report on deaths from illicit drug poisoning found 146 suspected overdose deaths in June,more than any other month this year. The number is also low, at 17 cents per month, down from last June when 175 people died.

But the relatively low figure — equivalent to 4.9 deaths per day — is not enough to offset the high death toll earlier this year.

July's figures are not yet finalized, but Lapointe said they were "significant" and expected to be high.

Fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, was detected in 83% of overdose deaths in 2022.

Data also suggest that more Suggesting that people are dying of high fentanyl levels in their bloodstream.

According to post-mortem toxicology reports, deaths from “extreme fentanyl concentrations,” defined as ≥50 ug/L, accounted for 17% of all deaths from November to June 2021. Benzodiazepines unresponsive to the 

antidote naloxone compared with 13 were detected in 33% of the June samples. At its peak, benzos were detected in 59% of overdose deaths in May 2021.

B.C. Children and Youth Representative Jennifer Charlesworth said the latest figures were "staggering" and young people are not immune to the direct or indirect effects of the toxic drug crisis. .

In 2021, 29 of her people under the age of 18 died from drug overdoses. This is a record high and more than double her 12 fatalities in 2016. By June, 16 deaths have been recorded.

Mr Charlesworth said we need the full array of drug use and support services available to young people, including harm reduction and safer supplies. of young people are still not able to participate in abstinence or treatment programs," she said. "We have to keep them alive until that time comes."

It has increased investment in mental health and addiction, including expanding services.

"The increase in illicit drug toxicity has outpaced BC's addition of unprecedented new overdose prevention services, so clearly more is needed." is," Minister Sheila Malcomson said in a statement.

Added substance use beds to BC Okanagan, Nanaimo, Maple Her Ridge, Prince George, and Addiction Care Services to Vernon, Kamloops, and Abbotsford.

States are also expanding safer supply points and have applied for exemptions from Health Canada to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs for personal use. It was the first state to apply.The application was approved in May, and the three-year waiver will take effect January 31, 2023.

"We continue to face this emergency from all angles and are making the massive, systemic changes needed to turn the tide of this crisis," Malcomson said. rice field. “We are making progress in building our care system, but there is still work to be done.”

The unregulated drug supply, which has changed little and is largely run by organized crime, is becoming increasingly unpredictable and deadly, it said.

"The best advice back then was not to use it alone. Today it's the same thing," he said.

Felicera said there has been incremental change, but too many people still do not have access to safer supplies or face long wait times for treatment and recovery services. "We're not working hard enough and we're killing people," he said.

Moms Stop the Harm's Leslie Mcbain agreed, and he urged policymakers and politicians to start treating 10,000 deaths like an emergency.

"Where is the pivot point?" she asked. "We have lost generations of innocent people to preventable deaths...because governments are stuck in a century of failed policies: Prohibition."

3 In May, the coroner's office released 26 death board findings,calling on state governments to create comprehensive systems of care to manage overdose crises.

Mr Lapointe said he had yet to receive a response from the government on the panel's recommendations.

1. Illegal drug overdose deaths in BC set record Q1 2022

2. 2021 will be the worst year for the opioid overdose crisis in BC

3. Ian Mulgrew: The Shocking Rise in Opioid Deaths in British Columbia Is 'Not the Street Use' Experts say

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