LINDSAY KINES
Times Colonist
Vancouver Island has the worst rate of illicit drug overdose deaths in the province this year, prompting renewed calls for safe consumption sites and better treatment and prevention services.
The latest statistics from the B.C. Coroners Service show Island Health with a fatality rate of 18.1 per 100,000 to the end of August — highest among all health authorities. The rate for the province as a whole was 15.5 deaths per 100,000 people.
There were 93 deaths on Vancouver Island in the same time period and 39 in Victoria, placing the city behind only Vancouver with 96 and Surrey at 62.
“The death rate really is unacceptable given that these deaths are largely preventable,” said Katrina Jensen, executive director of AIDS Vancouver Island, which offers harm-reduction and drug-related support services.
She said the statistics point clearly to the need for supervised drug consumption sites in Victoria and Nanaimo.
“I think supervised consumption is an immediate response in terms of people being able to use [drugs] in safe places where, if they overdose, they can receive immediate assistance,” she said.
“We give these messages to people telling them not to use alone, but we don’t really give them the support and resources to do that.”
Victoria Coun. Marianne Alto said the city is working with Island Health and Victoria police to establish a safe consumption site. The current rules require Island Health to apply for a federal exemption to operate the site, and Alto said she hopes that application will be filed by the end of the year.
She expressed frustration, however, that the federal Liberal government continues to require an onerous application process despite its avowed support for the sites.
“The message that we’ve been hearing for more than a year now is: ‘We believe this is a solution. The evidence points to this as a solution. We’re going to make it easy for you.’ And yet nothing has changed,” Alto said.
Island Health declined to commit to a deadline for submitting the application. A statement issued Wednesday said: “It depends on how long it takes to identify possible sites and ensure a complete and thorough public consultation process.”
Dr. Paul Hasselback, a medical health officer with Island Health, said there’s no question the site is needed, but that other services are required, as well.
“I’d be concerned if one thought that it was the panacea,” he said. “We need to have better prevention programs. We need to have better case management and treatment programs available.
“And while I think we’re making some incremental gains in those areas, we need to make gains in all the areas across the board.”
Provincially, the number of drug overdose deaths dropped slightly to 49 in August from 55 in July, but remains alarmingly high for the year, said chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.
In the first eight months of the year, the province recorded 488 deaths — an increase of nearly 62 per cent over the same period in 2015.
Fentanyl remains the driving force behind the dramatic increase. The powerful synthetic opioid was detected in 60 per cent of the deaths to the end of July, Lapointe said.
“The most common fatality combination we see is fentanyl and cocaine,” she said.
“Oftentimes, people using cocaine having absolutely no idea that it may contain fentanyl.
“We have very few deaths in the province due to fentanyl alone, which just emphasizes the risk of any illicit drug use.”
Lapointe said the death toll would likely be far higher without the increased use of naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses.
According to the province, more than 13,700 kits containing naloxone have been dispensed in B.C. Kits are available at 297 sites, including emergency departments and correctional facilities. Ambulance crews and several fire departments also carry naloxone.
“It’s clear that the expanded availability of naloxone is making a tremendous difference and likely saving dozens, if not hundreds, of lives in this province,” Lapointe said.
