Drug overdose deaths rising in Okanagan

Drug users are dying of overdoses in groups of twos and threes because there’s no one to call for help, the B.C. Coroners Service says.

Across B.C., 175 people died of illicit drug overdoses last month, bringing the year’s total to 909.

The toxicity of illegal drugs is on the rise, contributing to the rise in overdoses.

“The number of people dying in B.C. due to an unsafe drug supply continues to surpass deaths due to homicides, motor vehicle incidents, suicides, and COVID-19 combined,” chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said Tuesday.

“It is not uncommon for two or three people using together to die suddenly and with no opportunity to seek help,” Lapointe said.

Given the extreme toxicity of illegal drugs, people should only take them if they are in the presence of someone who is willing and able to inject naloxone, the overdose prevention drug, and call 911, Lapointe said.

There have been 65 illicit drug deaths in the Okanagan since the beginning of the year, compared to 84 in all of 2019.

In Penticton, 44 people died of illicit drug overdoses from Jan. 1, 2018 to July 31, 2020. The current rate of overdose deaths in Penticton, measured against the city’s population, is now more than three times higher than it was between 2014 and 2016.

In Kelowna, 33 people have died of illicit drug overdoses since Jan. 1. That equals the number that died of illicit drug overdoses in all of 2019.

Across the entire Interior Health region, 143 people have died of illicit drug overdoses. That exceeds the 139 who died in this manner during all of last year.

Given the ongoing overdose crisis, an advocate for drug policy reform once again called for drug users to be given safe supplies rather than buy drugs of unknown toxicity off the street.

“Let’s be clear. Nobody chooses to become addicted to drugs and nobody chooses to die of an overdose,” said Guy Fellicella, of the Overdose Emergency Response Centre.

“We can give people a choice though: to choose between the toxic, poisoned street drug supply that is fuelling these deaths or pharmaceutical alternatives in the form of a safer supply. Making that choice a reality is a matter of life and death,” he said.