Illicit-drug deaths down in Okanagan this year

Naloxone kits, mobile supervised drug-consumption site credited with reducing deaths in Kelowna

The province’s war on the opioid overdose crisis is starting to yield results in Kelowna, the Okanagan and the Interior.

The BC Coroners Service released illicit-drug overdose death figures Thursday that show awareness campaigns, use of overdosereversing naloxone and supervised drug-use sites are slowing the rate of overdose deaths.

Illicit-drug overdose deaths spiked in B.C. in 2017 as uber-powerful fentanyl found its way into more street drugs. In 2017, there were 1,486 illicit-drug overdose deaths in the province.

In the first 11 months of this year, there have been 1,380 deaths.

In the Interior Health Authority region, there have been 157 fentanyl-detected deaths so far this year, a drop from the record-high 207 in 2017.

In the Okanagan, there were 88 fentanyl-detected fatalities in the first 11 months of the year, compared to 132 last year.

When statistics are further limited to Kelowna, the number of deaths so far this year is 38, a significant reduction from the 66 in 2017.

The Interior, Okanagan and Kelowna have benefited from the provincewide initiative to distribute overdose-reversing naloxone kits to drug users themselves, paramedics and emergency room workers.

Kelowna also has an RV that has been retrofitted to be a mobile supervised drug-consumption site. The RV is parked downtown daily from 1 to 5 p.m. and in Rutland from 7 to 11 p.m.

Between June 2017 and July 2018, there were 18,943 visits while the RV was downtown. The number reflects drug users being counted multiple times if they used the site repeatedly over the 13 months.

The number of visits was 7,502 while the RV was parked in Rutland over the same period of time.

Forty-seven overdoses were reversed at the mobile site.

There have been no overdose deaths in the RV.

“We as a province are in the middle of an opioid overdose emergency,” said Danielle Cameron of Interior Health.

“This mobile supervised consumption site is an important piece of Interior Health’s response to that. We are pleased that the service is being well received by the people who can benefit from it and we’re seeing good health outcomes as a result, as well as saving lives in the process.”

Staff in the RV have also helped 400 drug users with referrals for help in finding housing and accessing help for mental-health problems and addiction.