Opioid overdoses spike amid pandemic
Border closure, limited access to services pose fatal risks to drug users
OTTAWA — The COVID-19 crisis has overshadowed an equally dark pandemic of opioid overdoses, which have risen sharply since March as the border closure and limited access to services raise fatal risks for drug users.
Jurisdictions across the country have reported an increase in overdose deaths tied to opioids, a stark reversal of the 13 per cent decline in fatal opioid overdoses between 2018 and 2019.
British Columbia saw more than 100 “illicit toxicity deaths” each month between March and August, with the death toll breaching 175 in May, June and
July, according to numbers compiled by the Public Health Agency of Canada last month.
The 181 deaths in June were a 138 per cent increase from the 76 fatalities in the same period a y better in Ontario, where an estimated 50 to 80 people per week are dying of overdoses, according to the chief coroner’s office.
The figures are up by 35 to 40 per cent year over year since the onset of the pandemic.
“Canadians should be seized with this particular crisis,” said chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam last month, given it is “escalating as we speak.”
The deadly spike is attributable to a range of factors linked to the virus, experts say. Canada’s ongoing border shutdown has disrupted the supply chain of illicit drugs, making substances more ripe for contamination with toxic additives by dealers looking to stretch their products.
“Since COVID, we’ve seen things get much worse. The level of adulteration of the drug supply has increased,” said Dr. Alexis Crabtree, a resident physician in public health and preventive medicine at the University of British Columbia.
Health precautions have narrowed access to services ranging from doctor visits to supervised consumption sites.
Physical distancing at overdose prevention sites can result in bottlenecks, deterring users who need immediate access or who simply don’t want to stand in line in the cold.
“Service providers where possible are going to online provision of service,” said Mark Haden, an adjunct professor at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health. “If you want to have a conversation with your doctor, Zoom is often the first choice. And homeless people don’t have access to Zoom.”
The social isolation of life under pandemic restrictions can also breed new users or heavier substance abuse.
“The more connection you have with people who care about you, the less likely you are to develop an addiction,” Haden said. “And right now we’re disconnecting.”
Pandemic protocols at social housing facilities may restrict visitors, further increasing the risk of an overdose if no one is nearby to spot one in progress.