The BC Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) says more than 50,000 opioid overdoses have been reversed in the province by a naloxone kit.
In all, it says 175,022 kits have been distributed to people who use drugs and people who are likely to witness an overdose. Since 2016, 169,949 naloxone kits have been given out.
“Every free naloxone kit distributed in B.C. is a statement that we are committed as neighbours, as a community, as a province, to saving lives,” said Judy Darcy, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, in a release. “We know that people need to be alive to find their own unique pathway to healing and hope and this announcement tells people using drugs loud and clear that we want them to live.”
BC CDC Harm Reduction Lead Dr. Jane Buxton says the Take Home Naloxone program – which has been in place since 2012 – was ramped up when the number of overdoses began increasing at the end of 2016.
“It’s a complex situation. People still have substance use disorders, so we have to have a multi-faceted approach in dealing with it,” she said. “But we are still seeing more deaths that is acceptable, and we need to continue to work hard and make sure we don’t just sit back and say, ‘haven’t we done well?'”
Dr. Buxton says the take home naloxone program has likely saved many more lives, but she says not all the data is reported back to the CDC.
“Last year, over 30 per cent of kits had been used. So it’s a large proportion of the kits that are being distributed that are being used. We don’t always get full data reported. These are obviously busy places that are distributing the kits.”
There are currently 1,678 active distribution sites across the province.
BC EHS paramedics respond to an average of 64 overdose or poisoning calls per day in the province. Through the first eight months of this year, paramedics in Kamloops responded to 421 overdose calls – or about 52 a month.
New data from the BC Coroners Service shows there were 24 deaths in Kamloops between January and August of 2019, and 690 across the province. That’s compared to 1,037 deaths in the first eight months of 2018.
Spokesperson Andy Watson says the Coroners are ‘cautiously optimistic’ with the decrease in overdose deaths this year from record levels in 2017 and 2018.
