B.C. first in Canada to declare public health emergency after fentanyl overdoses
VICTORIA — British Columbia has become the first province in Canada to declare a public health emergency after a dramatic increase in the number of overdose deaths from illicit drugs such as fentanyl.
Medical health officer Dr. Perry Kendall said 201 overdose deaths were recorded in the first three months of 2016 and that 64 of them involved fentanyl. Fentanyl is an opioid-based pain killer roughly 100 times stronger than morphine.
“At this rate, the total for 2016 could exceed 700 or even 800 (deaths),” he said Thursday, adding the numbers are increasing despite outreach initiatives, awareness campaigns and the rapid distribution of the drug naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses.
Fatal overdoses have steadily increased in B.C. since 2010, when 211 people died, reaching 474 deaths in 2015, Kendall said, adding fentanyl was associated with a third of the deaths.