Prevention sites helping reduce overdose deaths, local health officials say
Overdose-prevention sites are making a difference in Vancouver’s opioid crisis, say health officials, even in the face of grim figures that suggest the city is on pace to hit 400 deaths in 2017.
More than 200 people have died of a suspected drug overdose in Vancouver this year to July 2 — that’s almost as many as the 228 deaths recorded in 2016. But officials say the death toll could have been higher.
“Based on the analysis of experts, the deaths would have been much worse if those sites hadn’t been opened,” said Dr. Patricia Daly, Vancouver Coastal Health’s chief medical officer.
Vancouver opened five overdoseprevention sites in December. The sites provide a place for people to use illicit drugs under the watchful eye of trained staff or volunteers who can resuscitate them in case of an overdose.
According to data from Vancouver police and the fire department, the ratio of the number of deaths to overdose calls is higher in the Downtown Eastside, which indicates a higher survival rate once 911 is called. The ratio is lower in other parts of the city, including parts of the east side and in south Vancouver.
“We know that 90 per cent of (overdose) deaths occur indoors,” said Daly. “Maybe people are afraid to call 911, afraid of the legal repercussions or are hiding it from family and friends.”
Daly said work needs to be done to address stigma against people who use drugs because it could be preventing people from seeking medical help when they need it.
On Wednesday, Vancouver council approved $600,000 to fund programs aimed to fight stigma against drug users, decrease their isolation and address the need in the Aboriginal community, which is over-represented in overdose deaths.
The funds are also earmarked for programs that boost interventions beyond the Downtown Eastside, where about half of the city’s overdose deaths occur, and pilot projects that test for fentanyl in the drug supply. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is being mixed with heroine and cocaine because it is cheap and sold to unknowing users who cannot regulate their dosage properly.
The city grants will be distributed to non-profit groups as part of the $3.5 million raised by the city to combat the fentanyl crisis through a one-time 0.5 per cent increase in property tax.
The majority of the funds went toward supporting firefighters, police and naloxone training. Naloxone is used to counter the effects of fentanyl in an overdose victim.
Daly said the health authority has seen some encouraging signs in recent months, including a drop in the number of overdose cases in Vancouver emergency departments and a drop in Insite visits.
“We don’t know if that’s a signal things are improving,” she said. “It’s too early to tell.
“But if we continue to make new investments ... and we continue to work to expanding addiction treatment, we can hopefully sustain those decreases and see those numbers going down.”
Daly estimates it will take a “number of years” to get overdose deaths down to the level before the crisis, which was labelled a public health emergency in April 2016.