A surge in fentanyl-related overdose deaths, including a 50% rise in the Fraser Health region, prompted the provincial medical health officer to declare a public health emergency earlier this month.
And the Tri-Cities are hardly immune to the problem, with a dozen OD deaths in the last three years.
Throughout B.C. there have been 64 fentanyl overdoses so far this year (to March 31), which is already nearly double the 37 reported by this time last year. Of those 64 deaths, 19 were in the Fraser region among people aged 20 to 39.
Coquitlam has reported 10 such deaths, with four each in 2014 and 2015, plus two so far this year. Port Coquitlam and Port Moody both reported two: one in each city in 2014, one in PoCo in 2015 and one in PoMo this year. A report released by the BC Coroner's Service this week showed the number of fentanyl-detected deaths in each city since 2012.
"The number of deaths associated with fentanyl has gone from 5% in 2012 to 25% in 2014, and it's an even higher percentage in 2015 but we don't have the full numbers yet," said Helena Swinkels, medical health officer with the Fraser Health Authority. "We've had quite a dramatic increase in the number of deaths, so we are quite concerned about it."
Swinkels said it's not known whether those who have died after taking fentanyl did so knowingly or whether the powerful opioid, which is about 100 times stronger than morphine, was mixed with other drugs.
"This public health emergency was called so that the health authority, the province and the communities can work together to prevent these very tragic deaths," Swinkels said, as well as to work on "a number of initiatives we'll be rolling out over the next number of weeks."
A second report also released this week chronicles the number of illicit drug overdoses throughout B.C. So far this year, there have been more than 200 drug overdoses in which heroin, cocaine, MDMA, methamphetamine or other similar drugs were detected. If the trend continues, B.C. could see 600 to 800 overdose deaths this year.
In the Fraser Health region, overdose deaths have ranged from 45 in 2007 to 169 last year, with 55 reported so far this year.
Specific results were also reported for Coquitlam, which marked about three overdose deaths annually from 2007 to 2013, rising sharply to 10 in 2014 and 11 last year. There have been four reported in 2016.
In releasing the reports, the BC Coroner's Service said it was working with Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam Liberal MP Ron McKinnon on the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act, which would reduce barriers for those seeking immediate help for someone suffering an overdose.
