B.C. coroner warns against complacency in wake of encouraging overdose stats
VANCOUVER — British Columbia is bombarding the province with thousands of overdose-reversing naloxone kits as part of an all-out assault against a drug crisis that has killed 488 people so far this year.
Health Minister Terry Lake said Wednesday during an update on the opioid emergency that 13,000 life-saving kits have been distributed cost-free to nearly 300 sites across B.C., including emergency departments, public-health units and provincial and federal correctional facilities.
Newly released data from the provincial coroners’ service show the number of deaths involving illicit drugs decreased to 49 in August from 55 the previous month, though the 488 fatalities so far this year have nearly overtaken the 505 deaths reported for all of 2015.
“(August) marks the first month of 2016 where the number was reduced over the equivalent month in 2015, but we are very, very cautious about what that means,” Lake told a news conference.