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Fentanyl front lines: Fentanyl-linked deaths triple this year

The fentanyl crisis continues its grim toll with the latest statistics showing more people in B.C. have died from drug overdoses in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2015.
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About 61 per cent of all overdose deaths in the province from January through August involved the highly toxic fentanyl, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. The drug is often mixed with heroin and cocaine.

The fentanyl crisis continues its grim toll with the latest statistics showing more people in B.C. have died from drug overdoses in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2015.

There have been 555 deaths as a result of illicit-drug overdoses from January through September, eclipsing the 508 drug-related deaths in B.C. in 2015.

The total number of illicit-drug overdoses in September was 56, up from 49 in August, according to the latest statistics released Thursday by the B.C. Coroners Service.

The powerful opioid fentanyl was detected in 302 deaths — 61 per cent of all drug deaths from January through August this year —more than triple the number of fentanyl-related deaths compared with the same period last year.

“The ongoing high rates of fatal overdose in British Columbia demonstrate the need for continued collaboration, focus and energy,” Evan Wood, interim director of the newly created B.C. Centre on Substance Use, and Marshall Smith, chairman of the B.C. Recovery Council, said in a statement.

“In the face of the public-health emergency, we enthusiastically support the provincial government’s efforts to date, and encourage all stakeholders to continue to urgently respond to the severity of the current overdose epidemic.”

> Read the other stories in this series here.

Coroner Barb McLintock said while monthly overdose deaths are down significantly from 81 deaths in January, they remain a serious concern. “It’s better than going up, but we certainly need to keep it on a downward direction because it’s so much higher than last year,” McLintock said.

“We definitely still have a lot more work to do.”

The Coroners Service found that 79 per cent of those who died were men, and 60 per cent were men between the ages of 19 and 39.

Vancouver Island continues to have the worst rate of illicit drug-overdose deaths in the province this year, with a fatality rate of 18.5 deaths per 100,000 to the end of September. Island Health saw the largest increase in its fatality rate — 137 per cent — compared to 2015.

There have been 107 drug-related deaths on Vancouver Island and 44 in Victoria this year to the end of September.

Victoria has the third-greatest number of overdose deaths in the province, next to Vancouver and Surrey. People are dying in their homes, on the streets, in alleys and in public washrooms,

Frontline workers — from paramedics to staff at homeless shelters and drop-ins — face deaths and life-saving responsibilities every day. Dr. Perry Kendall, provincial health officer, declared a public-health emergency in April.

The province created a task force and announced $10 million to fight opioid addiction.

It’s not just users and their families who are affected by overdoses. Workers at social agencies, first responders and politicians have seen their jobs transformed.

In this series, the Times Colonist will take you to the front lines of the overdose crisis in Greater Victoria to better understand illicit-drug users and how fentanyl is increasingly involved in overdoses.

We will also explore the groundwork for solutions in Greater Victoria and when the region might see treatment beds and other services.