Overdose deaths predicted to be 80 per cent higher than last year

The Okanagan Weekend

The number of overdose deaths in Kelowna is projected to be 80 per cent higher in 2017 than in 2016, says Interior Health.

There were 928 suspected opioid overdoses reported to IH between June 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017.

From Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year, there were 122 drug overdose deaths across Interior Health, compared to 69 deaths in the same time period last year, according to the latest report from the BC Coroner’s Service.

In the first six months of 2017, May had the highest number of overdose deaths at 26 deaths.

Drug overdose deaths peaked in December last year, at 30 deaths.

In Kelowna, there were 46 drug overdose deaths between Jan. 1 and June 30 this year, the fourth highest number in the province after Vancouver (209), Surrey (87) and Victoria (50).

Across B.C., there were 780 fatalities between January and June, many of which were people who died alone, said chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.

There were 414 deaths during the same period last year.

Lapointe said even in cases when naloxone was available, people who could have administered it didn’t know how to use it to block the effects of opioids. The opioid fentanyl was detected in nearly 80 per cent of deaths between January and May.

At least one health authority is looking into the online option of accessing naloxone, Lapointe said Friday, calling the move the “absolute right approach.”

“People in small towns may not have easy access to naloxone, or everybody may know your business and you may not want people to know that you’re the local school teacher and you use illicit drugs,” she said.

People in all sectors of society are using illicit drugs across the province, Lapointe said: “People who work at universities, students, parents, people who work in the trades.

“We’ve had people come home at lunch to use cocaine and then they’re found dead when they didn’t show up at work,” she said.

“Our message that we continue to repeat over and over is, if you’re using drugs, don’t use alone. Use in the company of someone who knows what an overdose looks like and who is willing to administer naloxone or willing to call 911 for help.”

Coroners have reported that people who were present when someone fatally overdosed did not know the signs of an overdose, Lapointe said.

Symptoms include difficulty rousing someone who may seem to be in a deep sleep or having a hard time breathing or snoring heavily, she said.

Since last December, the BC Coroners Service has collected detailed information on people who have died of a suspected drug overdose to determine patterns that could lead to quicker intervention by health officials, Lapointe said.

We’ve had people come home at lunch to use cocaine and then they’re found dead when they didn’t show up at work. Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe