Pubdate: Fri, 10 Feb 2017
Source: Campbell River Mirror (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Campbell River Mirror
Contact:  http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1380
Author: Kristen Douglas

'SIGNIFICANT' RISE IN REGION OVERDOSE DEATHS

Illicit drug overdoses are claiming lives at rates never seen before,
a trend described by the Island's medical health officer as heart breaking.

"Unfortunately it's not going away and it's not going away any time
soon," Charmaine Enns, Island Health's chief medical health officer,
told city council at its Monday night meeting.

In fact, statistics show that fatal overdose rates are not only not
going away, but they're on the rise.

"We were averaging two opioid overdose deaths a day in the province
(in 2016)," Enns said. "For the month of December we were having an
average of four deaths a day."

In total, 914 people died in B.C. from an opioid overdose last year,
an increase of 79.2 per cent over the 510 deaths in 2015.

Vancouver Island saw the largest increase among B.C. regions, with 155
opioid overdose deaths in 2016 - a 156 per cent increase.

Of those, Enns said 23 overdose deaths occurred on the North Island,
with 10 of those deaths happening in Campbell River.

"That's a significant rise in baseline from years previous. Normally
we see three at the most, so that's triple the rate," Enns said.
"There's been a lot of talk about opioid overdose deaths in Victoria
and Nanaimo because they're bigger centres, with bigger numbers to
report out. In smaller communities the numbers get lost because
they're smaller numbers to report because we're smaller populations.
While the North Island is comprised of smaller communities, we have
the same rate of deaths happening in our communities. We haven't
escaped the crisis."

Enns said the majority of overdose deaths (73 per cent) are happening
in men between the ages of 19 and 49 years old.

"This breaks my heart," Enns said. "We have a crisis impacting a whole
generation of men in the prime of their life and I find this very
disturbing."

She said the majority of overdoses, at 70 per cent, are associated
with heroine, which, laced with fentanyl, has contributed to much of
the increase in fatal overdoses due to illicit drugs.

"This is fentanyl coming from China and it's mixed in with illicit
drugs and there's no quality control for illicit drugs so you really
don't know what you're getting when you're taking illicit drugs," Enns
said.

The other problem is that people are using while on their own.
According to statistics presented by Enns, 90 per cent of overdose
deaths in B.C. last year occurred inside a private residence or other
building. In December, following the spike in overdose deaths, the
province issued a ministerial order to health authorities across B.C.
to establish overdose prevention sites to address the issue of people
using alone.

Island Health has been running such a facility in Victoria for nearly
two months and just recently established an overdose prevention site
in Nanaimo.

Enns said for smaller communities like Campbell River, Island Health
intends to create multiple sites with one or two stations inside an
already existing Island Health or associated site.

The service will likely be incorporated into the facility's other
responsibilities, rather than acting as a stand alone.

The overdose prevention sites exist to provide a safe space for people
to inject their illicit substances with sterile equipment, in a
setting where staff - typically paramedics - can observe and intervene
in overdoses as needed. Enns pointed out that the overdose prevention
sites are not the same as safe consumption sites which require federal
government approval and provide a much fuller and robust service.

Jan Tatlock, Island Health's director of public health, said at safe
injection sites, people come in with their supply, move to the
injection portion of the room and then move to the 'chill out' portion
of the room.

"They can stay minimally for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, but sometimes
they stay longer," Tatlock said. "It's a time they can interact with
others, they can access services or even ask some questions at that
time."

Lisa Murphy, Island Health's director of mental health and substance
abuse, said that the aim of the sites is about saving lives. She said
that typically those who overdose are people who feel disconnected
from their community and isolated because they know they're engaging
in an illegal activity.

"We know most of the deaths are occurring because people are alone in
their home so any opportunity to have people come to a supervised
site, even consistently continually hearing the message not to use
alone," Murphy said. "Knowing city council, law enforcement, health
and other partners we work with are welcoming and encouraging them to
come for a life-saving service sends a very positive message to people
who felt alone in their illness."

At Monday's council meeting, Coun. Colleen Evans praised Island Health
for its efforts.

"It is about saving lives," said Evans. "And when we have the
potential to save lives, that's a good day."

Following Enns' presentation, council gave support in principle to
Island Health's efforts to address illicit overdoses in the city, as
well as an overdose prevention and management working group that was
initiated in Campbell River in July, 2016 and includes Island Health
and its community partners, as well as School District 72, BC
Ambulance, fire, RCMP, Kwakiutl District Council and the First Nations
Health Authority. Council also agreed to provide a city staff member
to participate in the working group.

"I think you know it goes without saying that we support in
principle," Mayor Andy Adams told Enns. "More importantly, it's
raising awareness of a very, very unfortunate issue that's happening
in our community."
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MAP posted-by: Matt