The opioid overdose crisis plaguing North America reached into the farthest corner of the Sunshine Coast last month. On Dec. 23, volunteer firefighters in Egmont responded to a possible cardiac arrest call at a house party and wound up administering naloxone to two unresponsive patients. Both had apparently taken “a little bit” of heroin that officials suspect was laced with the extremely potent painkiller fentanyl. Fortunately they survived the ordeal.
Public health officials say the contamination of the illicit drug supply is the driving force behind the worsening opioid crisis. For random recreational users and hard-core addicts alike, it can be a death sentence.
In November, Health Canada reported the presence of fentanyl had been detected in more than 60 per cent of samples of heroin seized by law enforcement agencies across the country during the first nine months of 2017, compared to 39 per cent in 2016 and less than one per cent in 2012.
In B.C., the frontline of the opioid crisis in Canada, the number of overdose deaths from illicit drugs with fentanyl detected – alone or in combination with other drugs – was 83 per cent from January to October last year, a rate that has also been steadily rising since 2012, when fentanyl was detected in only four per cent of fatal overdoses. In actual numbers, the BC Coroners Service reported 999 fentanyl-related overdose deaths from illicit drug use during that 10-month period. Consistently, males account for more than 80 per cent of the fatalities.
The overdose epidemic is so bad in the U.S. that it’s become the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 and was blamed for a drop in overall life expectancy for males in 2015 and 2016.
A new Angus Reid Institute public opinion poll, released Thursday, found that one in eight Canadians say they have close friends or family members who have become dependent on opioids in the last five years. And 77 per cent agreed with the statement, “The opioid problem is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”
All the statistics point to the same conclusion. In Egmont, the fire department is taking the extraordinary step of organizing a seminar to train members of the public to administer naloxone to drug users who overdose. The Take Home Naloxone program – available at some drug stores and at health units in Gibsons, Sechelt and Pender Harbour – provides free naloxone kits and training to any member of the public who may be at risk of overdosing or has someone close to them who may be at risk.
For anyone in either category, it would be a very wise thing to consider.
