B.C. premier sounds alarm after 130 ODs in one day

VICTORIA One of British Columbia’s top addiction experts joined Premier John Horgan Monday in calling for increased efforts to fight the ravages of illegal drug use after a report of 130 overdoses in one day last week.

Horgan said he’s thankful there were no deaths from any of the overdoses reported on Friday, but the staggering number reveals the amount of work ahead to battle the crisis. B.C. Emergency Health Services said paramedics responded to 130 suspected overdose calls on July 27, a statistic only seen once before in April of last year.

The service said in a statement on Twitter that news about the high number of overdoses should be made widely known. The premier said the province is working to ensure paramedics have the tools to help people who overdose, and that recovery facilities are able to help addicts to receive the care they need quickly.

Dr. Evan Wood, director at the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, said he agrees with Horgan that more needs to be done to battle the overdose crisis.

“We need more of everything in terms of what the premier is saying,” said Wood. “We need more effective harm-reduction services. The big gap is being able to go into harm-reduction services and steer people to get them off toxic opioids.”

He said the wider health-care system itself must turn towards addiction treatment after decades of unfocused attention.

The latest B.C. Coroners Service provincial overdose numbers posted on June 25 included 109 suspected illicit drug overdose deaths in May, a figure 23-per-cent lower than the overdose deaths for May 2017. There were 620 suspected overdose deaths up to the end of May this year. There were 1,449 overdose deaths in B.C. in 2017.