{"id":13180,"date":"2017-05-16T13:31:41","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T13:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=13180"},"modified":"2017-07-21T14:10:22","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T14:10:22","slug":"british-columbia-deaths-hit-record-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2017\/05\/british-columbia-deaths-hit-record-high\/","title":{"rendered":"British Columbia Deaths Hit Record High"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Director of the NDPA, Peter Stoker, visited Vancouver East Side in 1999.\u00a0 It was tragic to see drug dependent men and women living rough on the streets \u2013 in the alleys behind the main road \u2013 injecting in public.\u00a0 A team of police officers called The Odd Squad worked the area and did everything they could to help these people \u2013 producing a great video called \u2018Through the Blue Lens\u2019 \u2013 we took this video into schools and it was the most powerful drug prevention message we had ever used.\u00a0 We would urgently ask you to see this video on You Tube – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gwFRsfATaag<\/em><\/p>\n

The article below is covering the same story \u2013 19 years later.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it about time that Canada began to promote good drug prevention instead of relaxing their drug laws?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As overdose deaths spike, provincial health officials say more overdose prevention sites will soon open across the province.<\/p>\n

The number of overdose deaths related to illicit drugs in British Columbia leapt to 755 by the end of November, a more than 70-per-cent jump over the number of fatalities recorded during the same time period last year.<\/p>\n

In August, 50 people died of drug overdoses in British Columbia.\u00a0 In September, 57 died. In October, the number jumped to 67 \u2014 an increase that worried health officials, who had thought that increasing the supply and training for administering the overdose reversal drug naloxone was making a difference.<\/p>\n

In November, drug overdoses caused 128 deaths \u2014 61 more than the previous month, and nearly double the October total. That spike has brought the total number of deaths between January and November to 755, the highest number ever recorded by the BC Coroner and a 70 per cent increase over this time last year<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re quite fearful that the drug supply is increasingly toxic, it\u2019s increasingly unpredictable, and it\u2019s very, very difficult to manage,\u201d said Lisa Lapointe, B.C.\u2019s chief coroner, referring to the increasing prevalence of the synthetic opioid fentanyl being added to many illicit drugs.\u00a0 \u201cThose who\u2026attempt to use drugs safely, it\u2019s almost impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

With advance notice from the coroner that November numbers would be much higher, provincial health officials announced three weeks ago that several overdose prevention sites would open in Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria. People can go inside the sites to inject drugs, and are given first aid if they overdose.<\/p>\n

An unofficial safe consumption site located in the alley behind the Downtown Eastside Market off East Hastings Street.<\/p>\n

Health officials have insisted the sites are temporary and are not supervised injection sites, which are currently difficult to open because of a strict Conservative-era law that current federal health minister Jane Philpott has promised to change.<\/p>\n

If there is any good news to be found within the grim statistics, it is that no deaths have occurred at any of those overdose prevention sites. And no one has died at a volunteer-run tent that has been operating since September, without official permission or government funding, out of an alley in the heart of the Downtown Eastside. People can smoke or snort drugs at that site, not just inject.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty steady, we get about 100 people a day,\u201d said Sarah Blyth, the Downtown Eastside market coordinator and one of the organizers of the tent. \u201cWe\u2019re coming up to welfare (day)\u2026it\u2019s happening this Wednesday, so I imagine up until Christmas it\u2019s going to be pretty busy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sign on the front door of VANDU’s storefront at 380 E. Hastings advertises that the location is an overdose prevention site, with volunteers trained in first aid<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people use during Christmas,\u201d Blyth added. \u201cNot everybody\u2019s Christmas is as happy as others.\u201d\u00a0 At the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users storefront further down East Hastings Street, Linda Bird confirmed the overdose prevention site located there has been busy, with around 60 people a day passing through. Volunteers, who are paid a\u00a0small stipend by Vancouver Coastal Health, work two to four hour shifts. Overdoses are common, small stipend by Vancouver Coastal Health, work two to four hour shifts. Overdoses are a small stipend by Vancouver Coastal Health, work two to four hour shifts. Overdoses are common, Bird said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them are taking this very, very seriously,\u201d Bird said of the volunteers. \u201cIt\u2019s a crisis and a lot of them have seen their friends dropping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vancouver Coastal Health has announced a fourth overdose prevention site in Vancouver, while Fraser Health has added more sites in Langley, Abbotsford and Maple Ridge.<\/p>\n

Overdose deaths in November were nearly double the number seen in October<\/p>\n

Health authorities in the Interior, Vancouver Island and the north are also planning to open sites in the future, said Perry Kendall, B.C.\u2019s health officer.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re still struggling in many communities with the idea of having these (overdose prevention) sites open,\u201d Kendall said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged the federal government to introduce the new legislation as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must use (drugs) in the presence of somebody who can help you,\u201d Lapointe emphasized. \u201cWe are seeing people die with a naloxone kit open beside them, but they haven\u2019t even had time to use it. We are seeing people die with a needle in their arm or a tablet nearby\u2026You must go somewhere where someone is able to give you immediate medical assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.metronews.ca\/news\/vancouver\/2016\/12\/19\/bc-drug-deaths<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Director of the NDPA, Peter Stoker, visited Vancouver East Side in 1999.\u00a0 It was tragic to see drug dependent men and women living rough on the streets \u2013 in the alleys behind the main road \u2013 injecting in public.\u00a0 A team of police officers called The Odd Squad worked the area and did everything […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,85,16,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-addiction-papers","category-canada","category-social-affairs-papers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}