Pubdate: Thu, 28 Jul 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Nick Eagland
Page: A5

POLICE, HEALTH OFFICIALS TEAM UP TO BATTLE RECENT SPIKE IN ILLICIT DRUG 
OVERDOSES

The B.C. government has announced it is forming a group of experts to
combat the recent rise in illicit drug overdoses in the province.

At St. Paul's Hospital on Wednesday, Premier Christy Clark said the
task force would be headed by provincial health officer Dr. Perry
Kendall and director of police services Clayton Pecknold.

The new group will work closely with the B.C. Drug Overdose and Alert
Partnership and police agencies to improve practices to prevent overdoses.

The premier said the province will act "immediately" on its
recommendations.

"It is urgent that we start this work because lives are being lost
every day, and this is something that can touch every single family in
British Columbia," Clark said.

In April, Kendall declared a public health emergency after 201
overdose deaths in the first three months of 2016.

Despite efforts to curb the rising death toll by expanding data
sharing between health services and increasing distribution of the
overdose treatment drug naloxone, 371 fatal illicit-drug overdoses had
been recorded by June 30, with the synthetic opioid fentanyl detected
in 60 per cent of cases, according to B.C. Coroners Service data.

The province will work with the federal government to establish more
supervised-consumption sites in the province. Bill C-2, the Respect
for Communities Act, introduced by the federal conservatives last
year, has long hampered efforts to set up such services.

The province will also pressure the federal government to restrict
access to pill presses and tableting machines, limit access to the
materials used to manufacture fentanyl and escalate charges for the
importation and trafficking of fentanyl.

A testing service will be established to help drug users determine if
their drugs contain adulterants such as fentanyl.
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MAP posted-by: Matt