165 suspected illicit drug toxicity deaths in January, 7 in Prince George

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“The numbers are, they are not really slowing down. I think that there needs to be more urgency from a higher level. People who have substance abuse disorders are in a really big bind right now, benzos have been introduced to the drug supply so now people have a dependency on high levels of fentanyl and benzos.

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Putting it into perspective that’s a death rate of 38.1 per 100,000 residents. it is also the 10th consecutive month in which more than 100 deaths were to blame on illicit drugs. Juls says, more needs to be done

” Yes, we need specialized overdose prevention services, but I also think that all social services should incorporate overdose prevention into their practice .”

Lisa Lapointe, who is the chief coroner for B.C. says there is virtually no community in the province that hasn’t been touched by this devastating loss of life.

“And really, just really shows us the fragility of those who are accessing the illicit drug supply, is absolutely toxic right now, and far too many people are having to access their supply and there is absolutely no guarantee what they are getting. the illicit drug market is profit-driven and right now extremely toxic.”

The 165 suspected illicit drug toxicity deaths represent a * 104% increase over the number of deaths in January 2020 and a *7% increase over the number of deaths in December 2020 By Health Authority (HA), in 2021, the highest rates were in Northern Health which equates to 71 deaths per 100,000 individuals With the Northern Health region sitting at 17 so far this year and Prince George tragically tracked 7 of those.

Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, released the following statement, which reads:

“Stigma is driving people to use alone, and the pandemic is pushing people further into isolation. We stepped up our response to these emergencies as quickly as possible in B.C., but the effects of the pandemic on the illicit drug supply chain made drugs dramatically more toxic than a year ago and, tragically, more lethal. ”

with Trevor Halford, BC Liberal Critic for Mental Health and Addictions releasing this statement:

“We are again calling for John Horgan and the NDP to deliver a seamless mental health and addictions system that will prevent vulnerable people from continuing to fall through the cracks of this fractured system. Overcoming the overdose crisis will take more than a one-size-fits-all approach and we desperately need more resources in place so more lives can be saved.”

Juls says this all started with the bc liberals

” I just don’t think that the BC Liberals can say much because as we know, it was the BC Liberals who brokered that deal with methadone, I am not sure if you are aware, in 2014 the formulation of methadone was changed to methadone, instead of working 24 hours it worked fewer hours. ” thousands of people went back to using street drugs many of them have died.”