By Adam Donnelly

BC’s fentanyl strategy slowing overdose deaths

Oct 21, 2016 | 5:20 PM

KAMLOOPS — It was April 14th when the Provincial Public Health Officer Dr Perry Kendall declared a public health emergency due to a rapid rise in drug overdose fatalities in the province. Now, six months later, have things improved?

“We’re doing more than any other jurisdiction in North America,” BC Health Minister Terry Lake said on Thursday. “We’ve got a joint task force, we’ve declared a public health emergency, we have a large awareness program, we’re working with health authorities, the Centre for Disease Control, with first responders, with police agencies. Getting naloxone out there as much as possible,” adding, “What we’ve done… has saved hundreds of lives here in BC.”

That concerted effort seems to have slowed the rate at which people are dying from overdoses.

Last year, 30% of overdose deaths in the province were linked to fentanyl, either on its own, or combined with other drugs. This year, that rate has more than doubled, with 61% of OD deaths in the province linked to the synthetic opioid.

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“I suspect we will see more,” Kira Haug of ASK Wellness told CFJC Today. “I don’t know that there’s going to be an easy solution to this until fentanyl is not contaminating [illicit drugs], or being sought out.”

As authorities search for a remedy to the epidemic, there has been some discussion of opening a supervised, safe consumption site in the city, and that mandate has been supported by city council. Such a site might not be the solution some are hoping for.

Last month, CFJC Today interviewed Dr Mandy Manak, of the Interior Chemical Dependency Office, on the subject of safe consumption sites. She explained many IV drug users shoot up multiple times a day, and it can’t be expected they use their drugs at such a site, every time. She also brought up the cost of this type of facility.

“My concern is that these services are not inexpensive,” Dr Manak acknowledged. “In order to have these services for the maybe 2 or 3% that really benefit for them, we’d have to take that money away from somewhere else.”

While the rate of overdose deaths has slowed since the beginning of the year, as a result of the measures taken by the province those on the front line are hopeful their efforts can bring the number down even further.

In response to the growing number of overdoses in the province many clubs and bars in Kamloops now have naloxone kits on site in case of an accidental overdose on their premises.

Many local establishments have started keeping the emergency kits including at Cactus Jacks and the Blue Grotto.

Owners of the Blue Grotto say it just makes sense to be prepared in case of an unforeseen emergency.