N.S. sees increase in toxic drug supply
HALIFAX — There has been an increase in overdoses and deaths stemming from substance use in Nova Scotia, according to health-care workers and others who specialize in addictions.
Kathleen Trott, deputy minister of the Office of Addictions and Mental Health, said last year, 128 people died as a result of substance and opioid use – 74 of which were from opioid toxicity.
“We are expecting a trend where that increases as well,” Dr. David Martell told the health standing committee during a meeting at Province House in Halifax on Tuesday.
“These are parents, children, siblings, co-workers. They’re human beings. We should acknowledge their loss.”
Dr. Samuel Hickcox, a physician consultant with the Office of Addictions and Mental Health, said there has been an increase in the toxic drug supply in Nova Scotia.
“We’re seeing more fentanyl and its analogs coming into Nova Scotia, highly potent, very dangerous. More crystal meth coming in and more non-prescribed highly potent benzodiazepines, tranquillizers,” Hickcox said.
“This contamination of the drug supply has led to an unprecedented increase in mortality in this last calendar year.”
Paula Martin, program manager at Direction 180 in north-end Halifax, said the non-profit organization has seen the effects of opioid poisoning.
Direction 180, which opened Atlantic Canada’s first overdose prevention site in January 2019, gives people a safe space to use drugs, which also reduces the frequency of public drug use, transmission of bloodborne pathogens and inappropriate disposal of equipment.
“ReFIX staff have successfully responded to seven opioid poisonings preventing seven unnecessary opioid deaths in our community,” Martin said.
She said while the overdose prevention site doesn’t have physicians or nurses on site, it has been a successful program.
“We know for a lot of folks there is a lot of hesitancy and a lack of trust when it comes to health services,” Martin said.
She said people are more comfortable coming to the site because it is staffed by people with lived experience or volunteers, who all have first aid training and access to an AED and Naloxone kits.
Hickcox said the Office of Addictions and Mental Health is working to build trust with people who have lived experiences so they can respond appropriately to “this as an emerging crisis.”
“We have an opportunity here and it’s an opportunity to try and do our best to mitigate the harm we’ve seen across the country,” he said.
While there are many different approaches to helping people with substance use and addictions, Hickcox stressed that there is no “off-the-shelf model” for addiction care and withdrawal management.
Trott said the provincial government continues to fund programs such as the take-home Naloxone program, needle exchange programs and opioid-use disorder treatment services.
There are also several recovery support centres that offer one-on-one and group support for substance abuse and gambling. However, there have been some hiccups at some of the centres resulting in delayed openings or closures.
Hickcox explained the recovery support centre was to be open in Halifax by now but was delayed due to supply chain issue resulting in construction and renovation timelines being pushed back. He said it’s currently set to open in mid-May.
Martell said the recovery support centre in Yarmouth is facing health human resource challenges.
“We hope to have it back up and running as soon as we can, but there is no specific timeline,” he said.
Martell said the ultimate goal is to have 12 recovery support centres open across Nova Scotia. There are currently seven open.
Martell said he hopes the province will look at other models of treatment that have been successful in other parts of the country and take the best examples to come up with a successful model of care.