More spaces offering Naloxone in works in response to opioid crisis The two new overdose prevention sites announced Thursday for Vancouver aren't meant as permanent supervised injection sites, but are an emergency response to the current opioid overdose crisis, health officials say. On Thursday, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake announced in a statement that two new sites had been set up in Vancouver and were up-and-running as of Thursday, with another two each in Victoria and Surrey that will follow later this month. Additional sites throughout Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and another in Victoria's Rock Bay area, will also come at a later date, though specific addresses for those sites haven't yet been announced. All will be located in areas identified as having high numbers of overdoses. [continues 373 words]
The two new overdose prevention sites announced Thursday for Vancouver aren't meant as permanent supervised injection sites, but are an emergency response to the current opioid overdose crisis, health officials say. On Thursday, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake announced in a statement that two new sites had been set up in Vancouver and were up-and-running as of Thursday, with another two each in Victoria and Surrey that will follow later this month. Additional sites throughout Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and another in Victoria's Rock Bay area, will also come at a later date, though specific addresses for those sites haven't yet been announced. All will be located in areas identified as having high numbers of overdoses. [continues 369 words]
Drug overdoses have claimed a record number of lives in British Columbia already this year, but the B.C. government continues to fail to provide adequate, accessible pathways to treatment for people and families desperately seeking mental health and addiction services. We've been horrified at the deadly spike in fatal overdoses, and equally frustrated that government has failed to deliver services and access to treatment beds and recovery supports as the crisis has deepened. Recently, I joined New Democrat Opposition Leader John Horgan and my colleagues Rob Fleming and Selina Robinson to meet families and advocacy organizations on Vancouver Island to discuss the scope of the problem and where we need to act first. It has become painfully obvious over the past couple of years that our response and treatment systems are woefully inadequate. [continues 390 words]
Alberta Avenue resident Adam Millie "tore a strip off " council staff when he heard Edmonton was considering four safe injection sites in the inner city. Attracting more addicts and crime to fragile communities is not the answer, Millie raged in a series of frustrated messages on Twitter, Facebook and in an email to council. Then he had a change of heart. He thought about the issue Friday evening. On Saturday, he deleted those messages, sent an apology to council, and came to City Hall on Monday to argue this plan is actually critical to making those fragile communities safer. [continues 520 words]
The founder of two pop-up injection sites won't stay silent during the fentanyl crisis Last Christmas Eve, Sarah Blyth was working the front desk at one of the Downtown Eastside's nonprofit hotels when she heard a call from the alley out back. "There was a person outside and he was dying," the former park board commissioner recounted in an interview last January. "So I went running over with the Narcan kit." It was Blyth's first time injecting somebody with the overdose antidote, and she admitted she was shaken by the experience. [continues 1276 words]
In 2014, there were 324 people in Edmonton sharing needles and injecting in public spaces, according to the group looking at safe consumption services in the city. That's more than what Vancouver saw before launching safe consumption clinic Insite, says Shelley Williams, chair of Access to Medically Supervised Injection Services. Council will review a new report on access to medically supervised safe consumption sites Monday, after the province announced in late October it would give AMSIS $230,000 to apply to the federal government for exemption from drug laws. [continues 118 words]
A Kelowna safe injection site should be up and running by April, although what it will look like remains to be seen. Interior Health proposed two potential options last week - a fixed injection site at 477 Leon Ave. as well as a mobile site - and now they're embarking on the final community engagement process. The final phase of the application will be submitted to Health Canada once that's over, said Dr.Trevor Corneil, chief medical health officer with Interior Health, adding that the federal minister of health has offered every indication they want to move swiftly. [continues 602 words]
This week, the B.C. Coroners Service announced that Vancouver police had for the first time found carfentanil at the scene of an apparent illicitdrug overdose death on Nov. 17. The deadly drug is used as an elephant tranquilizer and 100 times more toxic than fentanyl, and deadly to humans in an amount smaller than a grain of salt. The fentanyl crisis in the province has reached epidemic proportions. So far this year, overdoses have killed 622 people in B.C., a 56.7 per cent increase over the same time period last year, during which there were 397 deaths. [continues 293 words]
When Marianne Alto walked into a public hearing at City Hall regarding the proposed supervised injection sites, she was surprised by what she heard. A number of residents expressed support last week for the supervised injection sites that many are seeing as a new tool to help reduce the number of overdose deaths on Vancouver Island. "Remarkably, the majority of people were very supportive, and I'll confess, it was a surprise to me," said Alto, a city councillor. "In the last 19 months to two years, the situation has become so dire that people have moved from resistance to this as one solution to an acceptance of the fact that this is a solution that's needed." [continues 359 words]
Canada is experiencing a serious opioid epidemic. While it has only recently made headlines, there has been a growing trend toward misuse and illegal use of opioid prescriptions in the past few years, one that nurses across Canada have seen firsthand. Whether or not people obtain these drugs by prescription, the difficulty of withdrawal is having a serious impact on our publicly funded health system. The Canadian Nurses Association is therefore pleased with Health Minister Jane Philpott's call for a national strategy to face this crisis. [continues 207 words]
A mobile supervised drug-use service is being considered for Kamloops. Locations and stops would be determined based on overdose and substance-use data, as well as feedback from those who would use it. The Interior Health Authority wants feedback from the public. Input can be submitted online at interiorhealth.ca. Search for "Supervised Consumption Services," which is located under Medical Health Officers under the "About Us" tab. Feedback must be submitted by Dec. 15. Health Minister Terry Lake said the service is needed because it saves lives. In all of 2015, Kamloops had seven overdose deaths. By the end of October this year, there had been 31 such deaths. [continues 340 words]
Opioid crisis draws attention to supervised drug-use sites, but Manitoba's not interested - so far A DECADE ago, fentanyl, the killer synthetic opioid that can be 100 times more potent than morphine, was a relatively unknown drug. Today, it's everywhere - and it's at the heart of a national crisis claiming the lives of hundreds of Canadians. In Manitoba, at least two dozen people have died from opioid overdoses in 2016, nine confirmed to be caused by or related to fentanyl. It's a dangerous drug that many people don't even know they're taking: it's often showing up in other illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin. [continues 1262 words]
This Christmas, Dianne Tobin will celebrate one year free of heroin. It will be the longest she's remained off the drug in 40 years. "It's been touchy at times, because I went down [in dosage] so fast," she told the Georgia Straight over coffee in the Downtown Eastside. "It was tough at first, going down so much at one time. But it was working for me." Tobin owes her success at getting off street heroin to an unconventional therapy: since the winter of 2011, a doctor has prescribed her diacetylmorphine, or prescription heroin. [continues 940 words]
Don't ignore their specialized training in harm reduction, says Marilou Gagnon. Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott is hosting two events in Ottawa this week. The first, a conference, will be held today and will feature presentations by physicians, pharmacists, politicians, chief medical officers, police officers and researchers, just to name a few. Then, on Saturday, a summit will be held. It is unclear who has been invited to attend the summit, but according to the website, it "will bring together individuals and organizations that have the authorities and commitment to take action to combat the opioid crisis." [continues 389 words]
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. [continues 551 words]
Respect for Communities Act currently puts requirements on prospective operators that critics say are an effort to curb the facilities The federal government will change a contentious piece of Harper-era legislation that critics say imposes undue barriers to opening new supervised injection sites. Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott discussed the need for legislative changes to the Respect for Communities Act for the first time on Thursday during a visit to a fire hall in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. First responders, particularly in the East Vancouver neighbourhood, have seen call rates surge in recent years, due largely to a fentanyl-driven overdose crisis. [continues 665 words]
PCs say they would prefer to see money go to addictions treatment As Alberta takes a hard look at safe drug consumption sites for addicts, the plan is drawing support from health and law enforcement officials but wariness from the government's political opponents. The NDP government announced in October new measures to deal with Alberta's opioid crisis, including $730,000 in funding for agencies in several communities, including Calgary and Edmonton, working to establish supervised consumption sites. Associate Health Minister Brandy Payne said it's crucial to put dollars toward harm reduction measures such as the sites, which provide a medically supervised place for addicts to inject or consume drugs. [continues 687 words]
Insite, the supervised injection site on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, operates under an exemption upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada that allows drug users to be in possession of illicit drugs. It is staffed by a team of registered nurses, qualified counsellors and professional mental health workers, and peer workers. Not only can nurses intervene in the event of an overdose, they tend to wounds and infections and provide immunizations. Insite is a gateway to other services, including addiction treatment, mental health support and housing. [continues 339 words]
Pop-up facility in Downtown Eastside may be illegal, but it has been welcomed by addicts who don't feel comfortable at nearby Insite Sarah Blyth was weary of rushing to counteract an overdose every time someone screamed "Narcan!" from a nearby alley in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, so she joined other activists to set up a supervised drug-consumption tent for addicts. Ms. Blyth acknowledges the so called pop-up site is illegal, but said she couldn't stand by and watch as people overdosed. [continues 380 words]
There's an addiction crisis: Morality has no place here. This is a health issue. Period. As Hamiltonians begin to debate the possibility of introducing safe injection sites in our city, it is important to understand that Canada and the United States are in the grips of an addiction crisis like we have never seen in our history. This problem is complex; it is not going to go away easily, and it is not going to be defeated by punishing addicts. [continues 758 words]
Editor: As Kamloops and other municipalities contend with the current overdose epidemic, much discussion has focused on how best to respond. Most experts agree that we need a comprehensive system that includes scaling up access to evidence-based addiction treatment. However, it would be irresponsible to let people die because we failed to simultaneously implement services, such as supervised injection sites, which have been proven to reduce overdose deaths and are cost-effective. In criticizing such services, Sharlene Klein (see online letter of Oct. 5: Use health-care dollars on treatment and recovery, not supervised drug-use sites) has grossly misrepresented the research on Insite. [continues 153 words]
Re: "Municipal politicians wrestle with fallout from overdose crisis," Sept. 28. Safe-injection sites, modelled on Vancouver's Insite, will soon be a reality in Victoria. The justification for these is that they reduce harm to the addict. On the other hand, it can be argued that they act as enablers so that the addict can avoid responsibility for his actions. We should note that the drug addict has to bring his or her own drug to the site. In most cases, the drug will have been purchased on the street. These drugs are often contaminated, most recently with fentanyl. [continues 128 words]
The Duel This Week's Topic: Should prescription heroin be made available for addiction treatment in B.C.? Why does the left always fall in favour of making drugs more widely available to society? Social conservatives are certainly not the ones clamouring to legalize marijuana, drown citizens in more booze or readily handout heroin. What is it about the left? The only conclusion one could come to is the left's political and social agendas are somehow advanced by promoting a dulled, inebriated and wasted constituency. This is how the left prefers its voters. [continues 335 words]
Each day 700 people line up to get into the Insite supervised safer injection facility in Vancouver. They come to inject pre-obtained heroin and cocaine in a clean environment, with clean needles, under the watchful eye of nurses, addiction doctors, counsellors and peer volunteers. Between 60 and 100 clients overdose at Insite each month. Yet not one of the three million intravenous drug users (IDU) who have been to Insite has died since the harm-reduction clinic opened in 2003. Does Insite save lives? Yes. Would a similar site in Hamilton save lives? Likely. This answers just one of many questions our community has as our public health officials, city councillors, addiction community members and neighbourhood associations wrestle with the proposal of a supervised injection site for Hamilton. But it is the biggest question. [continues 618 words]
As Vancouver moves to open two new supervised injection sites amid an unprecedented level of overdose deaths, B.C.'s top health officials are once again calling for the repeal of legislation they say imposes unnecessary barriers to the lifesaving harm-reduction measure. Vancouver Coastal Health this week announced the locations for two of five proposed injection sites, both to be located in the city's Downtown Eastside. Speaking with media about the sites and the troubling surge of fatal overdoses in British Columbia, the province's top health officials once again spoke of the Respect for Communities Act, which requires prospective operators to satisfy more than two dozen time-consuming and costly requirements to get the exemption from federal drug laws needed to operate. [continues 616 words]
Health officials hope to help Downtown Eastside Even with Insite, demand for new supervised injection sites remains highest in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Vancouver Coastal Health says. The health authority announced this week it is preparing applications for two new supervised injection sites in that community in response to the British Columbia's epidemic of overdose deaths. Chief Medical Officer Patricia Daly hopes that eight more supervised consumption spaces - approximately half of Insite's capacity - split between the DTES Mental Health and Substance Use drop-in centre (528 Powell St.) and the Heatley Community Health centre (330 Heatley St.) will be up and running early next year if approved by Health Canada. [continues 322 words]
Island Health intends to apply for at least two supervised drug consumption sites in Victoria by the end of the year, officials said Thursday. The B.C. Coroners Service released statistics this week showing Vancouver Island with the worst drug overdose death rate in the province. Harm-reduction advocates say the sites are needed so that people have a safe place to consume drugs and receive immediate medical attention if they overdose. "The bottom line is we're committed to getting the application in by the end of the year," said Suzanne Germain, a strategic adviser with Island Health's population and community health division. [continues 382 words]
'Overdose epidemic' means more places like Insite needed, MPs say The federal government said Wednesday it is prepared to amend Conservative legislation that critics say prevented the national proliferation of supervised injection sites modelled after Vancouver's Insite facility. The pledge from Health Minister Jane Philpott came after B.C. New Democrat MP Don Davies, who earlier Wednesday pushed through a motion to hold an emergency parliamentary study into the opioid crisis, said Canada needs more facilities like the Downtown Eastside's. [continues 454 words]
A surge in drug overdoses that has spread across several provinces has prompted Vancouver firefighters to redistribute resources and place limits on shifts to ensure first responders on the front lines of an opioid crisis aren't overwhelmed. Vancouver's Fire Hall No. 2, which serves the Downtown Eastside, has long been one of the busiest in North America. It used to average roughly 650 calls a month, but soaring overdose rates - largely from the growing prevalence of illicit fentanyl in street drugs - have pushed that number up to more than 1,000 in both July and August. [continues 744 words]
Vancouver Coastal Health has identified two locations where it intends to place future supervised injection sites, with an additional two unnamed locations planned, chief medical health officer Patricia Daly said on Wednesday. "The applications for the first two sites are going to go in within a month," Daly told Vancouver city council. The proposed locations are the new Mental Health and Substance Use drop-in centre that will open at 528 Powell St., to be operated by the Lookout Emergency Aid Society, and at the Heatley Community Health Centre, at 330 Heatley Ave., operated by VCH. [continues 181 words]
Moral dilemmas, NIMBY-ism and budgets pose obstacles Coun. Donna Skelly was curious what safe injection places for drug addicts look like. So Dr. Jessica Hopkins, Hamilton associate medical officer of health, drew her attention to slides of the Insite facility in Vancouver, one of two legally operating injection sites in Canada, both in Gastown. It has subdued lighting and shiny floors. It has mirrored booths where junkies can shoot up with heroin or any other illegal drugs they get their shaky hands on. [continues 612 words]
With 22 deaths in the first half of this year, city council votes to support supervised consumption service Kamloops city council has voted unanimously to support the concept of a supervised site where people can consume illicit drugs under medical supervision amid a surge in overdose deaths in the city. In the first half of this year, 22 people died of drug overdoses in Kamloops, which has a population of roughly 86,000. In comparison, seven people died of drug overdoses in all of 2015. [continues 673 words]
An unscientific survey by Ottawa's public-health unit over the summer found two-thirds of us support new supervised drug-injection facilities aimed at helping addicts survive overdoses. The survey, an online questionnaire, was a consultation meant to gauge the public's attitude toward such sites, which Ottawa Public Health thinks would work best added to existing community health centres and other agencies that operate needle exchanges and methadone clinics. Anybody could go to the health unit's website and fill the survey out - - so it's more like an Internet version of a public meeting than a poll. [continues 363 words]
The number of calls to paramedics for overdoses in the city has more than doubled since 2012, and one drug, fentanyl, is the main suspect behind the surge. And things might get even worse. "I definitely think it is a crisis here," says Rob Boyd, director of the Oasis clinic at the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre and a leader in the harm reduction field in Ottawa. "I said going into the summer that I had a bad feeling about it. I really try hard not to be alarmist when it comes to this stuff, but I think powdered fentanyl is a real game-changer." [continues 638 words]
On Thursday, Aug. 25, the day after provincial income-assistance recipients received their support payments, the sirens started: Ambulance, police and fire engines throughout Vancouver were responding to a spike in accidental drug overdoses. Although media reports on overdoses have rightfully focused on the toll caused by fentanyl, a new and more powerful opioid, that particular Thursday is not unique. Sirens are heard throughout Vancouver every month on the days after "cheque day," and are part of a long-standing monthly ritual that locals also refer to as "Welfare Wednesday" or "Mardi Gras." Drug dealers collect outstanding debts. The hashtag #WelfareWednesday is used to advertise drink specials. Community workers hand out fruit to people standing in line at the bank. Thanks to quick action by first responders, family members and health providers, almost all overdoses do not result in death. Some, devastatingly, do. [continues 612 words]
Project for Supervised Facilities Was Approved After Local Consultations More than a year after Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre called for the urgent implementation of supervised drug injection sites, local advocates are stuck waiting for a project experts agree has life-or-death consequences. "We've been saying it and resaying it for many years now," said Martin Page, general director of Dopamine, a group based in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve that helps the homeless and addicted. "Supervised injection sites are a positive for everyone in the community." [continues 517 words]
As overdoses rise, Vancouver mayor, B.C. Health Minister and medical authorities call on Ottawa to repeal 'mean-spirited' restriction Vancouver's mayor and B.C.'s top health officials have formally requested Ottawa repeal legislation they say imposes unnecessary hurdles to opening new supervised consumption sites. The call comes as overdose deaths in the province reach a level not seen in nearly 30 years of record keeping, driven in large part by fentanyl - a powerful synthetic opioid - being cut into the majority of street drugs. In the Metro Vancouver suburb of Delta, nine people overdosed in the span of 20 minutes this week after snorting fentanyl, believing it was cocaine. Early data from a nascent drug-testing initiative found that 90 per cent of heroin people brought into Insite, Vancouver's supervised injection site, contained fentanyl. [continues 563 words]
B.C., Alberta Hit Hardest by Crisis; Ontario Likely Next VANCOUVER - Canada's plans to restrict six chemicals used to make fentanyl will only increase demands for a more dangerous replacement if other steps to stem a national opioid crisis are not taken, a drug-policy expert says. Don MacPherson, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, was responding to Health Canada's announcement that a bill brought in by a senator means the government can act quickly to make the unauthorized importation and exportation of the precursor chemicals illegal. [continues 519 words]
Solutions also include affordable housing, repeal of Respect for Communities Act International Overdose Awareness Day is held on Aug. 31 as a solemn reminder of the more then 200,000 people who die worldwide each year from preventable drug-related causes. It is a day for friends, families and communities to come together to challenge the stigma that often results in the opinion that people who use drugs deserve the harms they might incur, rather than expanding access to evidence-based treatment, harm-reduction and prevention approaches. [continues 465 words]
In harm-reduction circles they say every overdose is preventable. By that standard, B.C. is failing dramatically. Speak to those at the front lines of the unprecedented drug overdoses hitting Vancouver and, if they've been around long enough, the 1990s will come up. It was a decade of headline-grabbing OD deaths, peaking in 1998 when 417 people in B.C. died from illicit-drug overdoses. But 2016 is shaping up to be far, far worse. Already, at least 371 people have died in the province, a two-a-day rate that could translate into 800 deaths by year's end. The provincial health officer declared an emergency in April. [continues 717 words]
Philpott Says Effects of Respect for Communities Act - Introduced in 2015 - Being Monitored, Leaves Door Open to Changes If Needed Canada's Health Minister says Ottawa has no plans to repeal Conservative government legislation that harm-reduction advocates say makes opening new supervised-consumption sites unduly onerous - if not impossible. British Columbia's Health Minister, provincial health officer and others say the Respect for Communities Act puts unnecessary obstacles in the way of a proven health intervention. Overdose deaths are at a record high in B.C., having surpassed 433 as of July 31 - a 74 per-cent increase over the same period last year. [continues 552 words]
New Measures to Fight Plague of Overdoses in Region Two people die of a drug overdose every day in B.C., and almost three every month in Maple Ridge. With drug overdose deaths at emergency levels, the Fraser Health Authority will be considering supervised consumption services in Lower Mainland cities, among many measures. The most recent statistics from the B.C. Coroners Service show the number of illicit drug overdose deaths in the province is still alarming, and that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is a killer. [continues 632 words]
Around-The-Clock Service Offered in Bid to Curb City's Overdose Crisis Health officials will offer around-the-clock service on certain days at Vancouver's safe injection site in response to the city's overdose crisis. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority said Friday it is launching a pilot project to keep Insite open 24 hours a day on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during the weeks that social assistance cheques are distributed. The project will begin Aug. 24-26, and continue for up to six months. At that time, health officials will evaluate whether the extended hours are having any effect. [continues 220 words]
It's been more than a decade since North America's first legal supervised injection site opened its doors on the Downtown East Side and now debate is flying over whether Surrey should have its own. It should. Full stop. With epidemic levels of overdoses, Fraser Health says they're putting together an "aggressive" strategy to combat the issue - possibly such a facility in Surrey. On the weekend of July 15, Surrey Memorial Hospital saw 43 overdoses. Since then? An average of three a day. [continues 736 words]
Re: Why safe injections sites won't cut it, Aug. 9. Margret Kopala provided a litany of reasons why Ottawa should eschew a safe injection site. However, she failed to mention that safe injection sites save lives. She points out that overdose deaths have increased since Insite, the Vancouver safe injection site, opened in 2003. She fails to mention, as the study by the prestigious medical journal Lancet stressed, that overdose deaths around Insite have declined 35 per cent in this time frame. There have been more than three million visits to Insite since 2003, yet not a single overdose death at the facility. Safe injection sites save lives. Every addict's life matters to me. I realize that view isn't universal. Ken Armstrong, Ottawa [end]
Kelowna Mayor Says City Is Pleased With Effort to Address Surge in Fatal Drug Overdoses Establishing a safe injection site in Kelowna will save lives, says Mayor Colin Basran. "We believe that safe consumption sites are part of the spectrum of care for people in our community," said Basran. "People are dying, and safe consumption sites will stop people from dying." Interior Health is looking into setting up Canada's first safe injection sites outside Vancouver. "We are planning to have safe consumption services available in Kelowna and Kamloops," said Dr. Silvina Mema, medical health officer with Interior Health. "We think that this needs to happen as soon as possible." [continues 460 words]
Preventing, treating are our only hopes to stem drug abuse, says Margret Kopala. The deadline for the City of Ottawa's supervised injection site consultations was Monday, but Ottawans may be forgiven for finding the whole exercise moot. With drug abuse reaching epidemic proportions in our cities, injection facilities, whatever their merits, are a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed. Even British Columbia, devoted to harm reduction protocols and, since 2003, the home of Canada's first injection site, Insite, is worried. According to the Coroners Service of British Columbia, illicit-drug overdose deaths have increased from 200 in 2007 to a projected 800 in 2016. The introduction of the designer drug fentanyl isn't solely to blame. Heroin overdoses - on their own or laced with fentanyl - are a major factor. [continues 524 words]
Kelowna could soon have a safe injection site, as Interior Health is pushing forward a multi-tiered plan to combat the mounting number of drug related overdoses. "We are as we speak conducting a survey with people who use drugs so they can provide input on the idea of a safe injection service," said Dr. Silvina Mema, Medical Health Officer with IHA, noting that the survey will identify the appetite for such a facility and best locations. The health authority also had a cursory meeting with Kelowna city council on Monday to inform them of where they're at in the process. [continues 463 words]
Re: Addiction problem requires comprehensive solution, Letter, July 29 Overdoses are managed safely and promptly at our essential Insite, but still, even from a trusted dealer, illicit drugs are often contaminated. Another option exists at Providence Crosstown Clinic. Here, patients attend up to three times daily for treatment that is safe, pharmaceutically prepared under sterile conditions, and monitored by a health-care team. They know exactly what they receive, and while at the clinic can access medical, mental health and substance use supports. [continues 92 words]
There were 127 overdose deaths in the Fraser Health region in the first six months of this year, including 10 from fentanyl in nearby Maple Ridge. In April, the B.C. government declared its first-ever public health emergency to deal with the sharply rising cases of opioid drug overdoses across the province. Over the July 16 weekend, there were 36 overdoses in Surrey alone over two days. The weekend before that, five people ODed at a house party in Coquitlam, their lives possibly saved because a resident of the home returned late at night and called 911. [continues 237 words]