There have been eight overdose drug deaths in North Vancouver so far in 2020, five of those involving fentanyl, a report from B.C.’s Coroners Service has revealed.
The North Vancouver overdose deaths were noted in reports that showed the number of deaths from street drugs for communities with the 15 highest numbers of deaths so far this year. North Vancouver ranked 15th on the list.
The report showed 101 people in North Vancouver have died of street drug overdoses between 2010 and the end of May 2020. Over half of those deaths involved fentanyl.
In the North Shore Coast Garibaldi health services area as a whole – which includes the whole North Shore, Squamish, Whistler and Sea-to-Sky corridor, Sunshine Coast and Powell River – there have been 18 drug overdose deaths so far this year, nine of those involving fentanyl.
The local statistics in this week's reports come as provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry voiced alarm about the number of overdose deaths so far this year.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the toxicity of the street drug supply here in British Columbia,” said Henry on Thursday. “It is around the province. We are not only seeing people die in the Downtown Eastside. This is the case across B.C.”
Province-wide, 170 people in B.C. died of illicit drug overdoses in May, the highest number ever in a single month. That’s a 93 per cent increase over the deaths in May 2019.
A total of 554 people died of drug overdoses in the first five months of 2020, compared to 167 deaths from COVID-19.
“I cannot express how difficult this news has been to hear,” said an emotional Henry on Thursday.
Health officials have voiced concern that some of the measures put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 have made the threat of drug overdoses worse.
They said drug supply on the street has become especially toxic as previous sources of illicit drugs have likely been cut off due to border restrictions.
Toxicology results suggest there have been a greater number of overdose deaths involving extreme fentanyl concentrations in May compared with previous months, according to the B.C. Coroner’s Service.
People staying apart because of COVID-19 also means more people are likely to be taking drugs alone, which is much more risky.
"This can be very isolating for some people,” said Henry, and makes it more possible for them to “hide their drug use from others even if they might otherwise have reached out for help or been very careful about not using alone. We know that using alone right now is exceedingly deadly.”
Henry added dealing with the dual health crisis has “really stretched our resources to the limit.”
According to information provided by Vancouver Coastal Health, the BC Ambulance Service responds to an average of 18 overdose calls a month in North Vancouver and six overdose calls a month in West Vancouver (including Bowen Island). The ambulance service responded to 294 overdose calls on the North Shore in 2019.
So far, 2017 was the deadliest year for drug overdose deaths in North Vancouver, when 19 people died. A further 15 people died in 2018 and 11 died in 2019.
In the past decade, 223 people have died of drug overdoses in the North Shore Coast Garibaldi area as a whole, with over half of those deaths involving fentanyl.
