Pubdate: Wed, 16 Nov 2016
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Wendy Stueck
Page: S1

VPD ISSUE WARNING FOLLOWING STRING OF DRUG OVERDOSES

Vancouver police have issued another warning after 11 overdoses were
reported in a single day in the city's Downtown Eastside.

The move prompted the province's opposition party to call for more
help for addicts and underscored the danger facing drug users ahead of
a federal conference on the opioid crisis. Police issued the warning
after a series of non-fatal overdoses on Monday, echoing previous
notices from police and health officials, who have urged users not to
inject when they are alone and to watch for overdose symptoms.

Meanwhile, the city's supervised injection site saw 28 overdoses on
Monday - none fatal.

Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott will host a conference this
weekend in Ottawa to discuss a crisis that has killed hundreds in
British Columbia alone and resulted in thousands of overdoses, taxing
police, fire and emergency health departments. Topics on the agenda
include public education, addiction treatment and prescribing practices.

B.C. declared a public-health emergency in April as fatal overdose
deaths spiked across the province, many linked to the powerful opioid
fentanyl, which is now detected in more than half of deadly overdoses.
By the end of September, 555 people had died in B.C., surpassing the
number of fatalities for all of 2015.

The province has since taken numerous steps to help prevent overdose
deaths, including making naloxone, an overdose remedy, available
without a prescription and providing it to firefighters in several
communities, including Vancouver and Surrey.

However, the NDP's public safety critic, Mike Farnworth, says the
province could be doing even more.

The government has failed to put in place the number of addiction
treatment beds they promised - we're not even halfway there," Mr.
Farnworth said Tuesday.

He also said B.C. could have followed Alberta's lead by introducing
legislation to restrict pill presses, which have been linked to
illicit drug production. Alberta passed a bill in May to restrict the
presses as of Jan. 1, 2017. Police forces in B.C. have also called for
such restrictions.

In her 2013 election platform, Premier Christy Clark said her
government would create an additional 500 addiction spaces by 2017. To
date, about 200 have been created.

In an e-mail, a provincial Health Ministry spokeswoman said that
improving mental health and substance use services in B.C. "is
absolutely a priority for this government" and that the province is
committed to meeting its 500-bed goal in 2017, with new beds coming
soon in the Fraser, Interior and Vancouver Island health regions.

As for pill presses, Ms. Clark has called on the federal government to
restrict access to the equipment. That and other policies are expected
to be discussed at this weekend's summit.

While the B.C. Coroners Service tracks overdose deaths, it is more
difficult to estimate the number of non-fatal overdoses such as the 11
reported by Vancouver police on Monday.

Insite, Vancouver's supervised-injection site, reported 768 overdose
incidents last year and no deaths. Of the 28 overdoses the facility
responded to on Monday, 22 were inside the facility. The previous day,
they had just one overdose.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has noted a sharp increase in the
number of naloxone kits dispensed to replace "used" kits as part of
its take-home naloxone program, which launched in 2012. It dispensed
217 replacement kits in June, compared with 21 the previous June. The
program has shipped about 18,500 kits to sites around the province -
including emergency departments and correctional facilities - since
its launch and has dispensed 8,813 kits to clients, according to a
July, 2016, update from the BCCDC.

Since March, new kits have been shipped with three, instead of the
previous two, naloxone ampoules, reflecting more incidents in which
two or more doses are administered.
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MAP posted-by: Matt