Another nearly record year for toxic drug deaths in B.C.

With an average of six people dying per day in British Columbia because of toxic street drugs, there are calls from the province’s chief coroner and others, for the government and general public to give the crisis the urgency it demands.

Meanwhile, Kelowna had its worst ever year for toxic drug deaths.

Seven years into what the province labelled a public health emergency back in 2016, Lisa Lapointe has announced 2,272 people died as a result of toxic drugs in 2022.

That’s the second-largest total ever in a calendar year, and only 34 fewer than the 2,306 deaths reported to the agency in 2021.

“I am so sorry. Their lives mattered and their deaths is our collective loss,” Lapointe said as part of her address to media while referring to anyone grieving the loss of a loved one.

Later, she said there was an urgent need to create a better multi-pronged healthcare system to specifically tackle the crisis.

“People are dying everywhere, every day,” she said. “ There is an urgent need for safer supply… as a harm reduction measure, drug checking services, overdose prevention sites, inhalation overdose prevention, and a continuum of care so people can access what they need to keep them alive.”

Toxic drugs were responsible for an average of 189 deaths per month in 2022, or more than six lost lives each day.

The coroner’s office said every part of B.C. saw significant deaths: Vancouver, including the Downtown Eastside, recorded 319 deaths in 2022.

But Interior Health was among many other health areas seeing record high rates, at 388 in total. Kelowna had 87 deaths, 11 more than in 2021.

At least 11,171 deaths have been attributed to the illicit drug toxicity since the public health emergency was first declared in April 2016.

NIMBYism

Dr. Nel Wieman, acting chief medical officer for the First Nations Health Authority, said Indigenous people were dying at a rate five times that of the other B.C. residents, but highlighted how the crisis was impacting every part of the province. She suggested too many people were apathetic to the enormity of the problem.

“The public messaging during COVID has been ‘we’re all in this together’, but I ask, what are people saying to themselves about the toxic drug crisis: ‘I’m glad it’s you not me. Not in my backyard. This doesn’t affect me or my family.'

“The reality is that British Columbians, including First Nations people, have died of toxic drug poisonings all over our province. This isn’t just a Downtown Eastside problem,” she said, while stressing the public resources and collective attitude toward the crisis should be at the same level as the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public health response inadequate

Dr. Paxton Bach, co-medical director at the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use deals with patients who are seeking treatment options. He said professionals like him across the province didn’t train for a toxic drug crisis like this and the health system as it stands, cannot cope.

“There’s no region of our province that’s not being touched by this crisis,” he explained. “For every one of these deaths… there are ten more individuals who are experiencing non-fatal overdoses, infections, or many other consequences, not to mention the incredible trauma these deaths are inflicting on communities.”

At one stage Bach became emotional as he discussed his frustration with the spiraling crisis.

“This has gone on far too long. It’s an emergency. It demands an urgent response that is commensurate with the scale of damage we’re seeing; one that is reflective of what the families, friends, communities deserved from the very beginning [of the crisis].”

Government response and decriminalization

Responding to the chief coroner’s year-end report, Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said in part, the government is working hard to build up a comprehensive mental-health and substance-use system of care that works for everyone in the province.

While pointing to historic investments and her government’s moves to building a system of care, including enhancements across the full spectrum of treatment and recovery, Whiteside pointed to the massive policy change regarding personal possession that came into effect Tuesday.

"While these investments are important, reducing stigma is a vital part of B.C.'s work to build that system of care. Today, British Columbia became the first province to decriminalize people who use drugs to fight the shame and stigma around addictions.”