Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry attributes the spike in overdose deaths to a toxic drug supply as the Canada-U.S. border remains closed (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

OVERDOSE INCREASES

Increase in overdose deaths due to more toxic drug supply, fraudulent COVID-19 benefit claims

May 28, 2020 | 5:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the increase in overdose deaths across the province, including in Kamloops, has been largely related to a more tainted drug supply with the Canada-U.S. borders closed.

“The toxicity has increased and part of that is due to the supply chains being cut off, as they have been for many other things,” she noted in her Thursday (May 28) address from Victoria. “Drugs then are being manufactured locally or cut with other materials that are toxic as well. That has quite a bit to do with the numbers that we’re seeing.”

There were 117 deaths in B.C. from illicit drug overdose in April, bringing the provincial total to 382 so far in 2020. Kamloops experienced its largest increase in a while in April with seven overdose deaths. There have been 18 deaths overall here as of the end of April.

Executive director of ASK Wellness Bob Hughes says the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) has also contributed to the problem. He notes it’s wrongfully handing out money in certain people’s pockets, including the homeless and low-income in Kamloops who are taking advantage of the system.

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“They have more money that they’ve not had before, which can easily translate when you’re in the depths of addiction,” noted Hughes. “Imagine you win a lottery standing at a bar at 12 o’clock at night; you’re probably going to be spending that money in a way that you might regret the next day.”

Hughes has sent a letter to both the provincial and federal governments, hoping for this fraud to be stopped.

“To ask them to communicate with one another, to ensure that if these funds are being issued that they’re done in a way that is obviously legal,” he said. “And just to highlight the fact that this vast amount of money is put in the hands of some people that have almost no control over their substance use disorder.”

Dr. Henry addressed the concern at her daily media conference on Thursday, saying pandemic restrictions have made access to addiction services more difficult.

“Access to overdose prevention sites has been interrupted in some places, and we’ve had to change those models,” she said. “We’ve seen that in Victoria, Vancouver, and certainly in the Interior.”

She says the province is trying to expand virtual addiction services the best it can to reduce the numbers during the pandemic.