Brandon Sun By: Camille Bains, The Canadian Press Posted:
Last Modified: 7:09 PM CDT Thursday, Jul. 15, 2021 Save to Read Later
VANCOUVER - British Columbia s mental health and addictions minister has announced a new policy that will expand access to safer prescription drugs for people at risk of overdose and death from toxic substances, without expecting them to enter treatment.
Paramedic specialists Brian Twaites and David Hilder of B.C. Ambulance debrief after responding to a drug overdose in downtown Vancouver, Wednesday, June 23, 2021. British Columbia will provide safer prescription drugs to people at risk of overdose and death from toxic substances, without expecting them to enter treatment. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Cinquième anniversaire de la crise des opioïdes journaldemontreal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journaldemontreal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The B.C. Coroners Service reports 7,024 illicit drug overdose deaths since the public health emergency was declared in April 2016. Death to illicit drug toxicity is now the fourth highest cause of death in B.C., Lapointe said at a news conference. The average age of those dying is 43. Fentanyl or fentanyl analogues are now detected in 80 per cent of all deaths.
Dr. Shannon McDonald, acting chief medical officer at the First Nations Health Authority, said toxic drugs continue to take a deadly toll on Indigenous people, with overdose deaths much higher than provincial averages.
The Coroners Service, which warned of the social and economic toll of the overdose crisis in reports dating back to the early 1990s, has repeatedly called for more evidence-based addiction treatments, expanded drug use safety options and more support for physicians to link patients to recovery programs, said Lapointe.
Dirk Meissner and Nick Wells
Heartfelt messages are left on a table as people come out to mark International Overdose Awareness Day during a mass group naloxone training seminar at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019. When British Columbia s provincial health officer declared an emergency into the overdose crisis five years ago, he said it was because those who died deserved more of a response. Since then, Dr. Perry Kendall says roughly 7,000 died unnecessarily.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito April 14, 2021 - 3:30 PM Calls for bold, courageous and compassionate actions were made Wednesday by top health officials and advocates as British Columbia marked the fifth anniversary of its deadly overdose crisis.