The City of Vancouver is predicting March will be even deadlier than February for drug users.
Last month, Vancouver police recorded 25 suspected overdose deaths in the city, but in the first three weeks of March police have already reported 21 such deaths, according to a city media release.
The B.C. Coroners Service has not yet confirmed March numbers as toxicology tests are being completed. However, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services reported 104 overdose calls the week of March 13, up from 92 calls the week prior, with the majority of calls in the Downtown Eastside.
Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, there were 219 illicit-drug overdose deaths in B.C., including 74 in Vancouver, according to the coroner’s service.
“The city’s first responders and front line community service workers are at a breaking point, shouldering a large share of the overdose response in the fentanyl crisis,” Mayor Gregor Robertson said in the release.
Robertson again called upon the provincial government to spend $10 million in recent federal funding – meant for the fentanyl crisis – on expanding access to “clean” prescription drugs, substitution therapy and treatment-on-demand.
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The city is pushing for increased access to injectable opioid-assisted therapy, which is currently offered at Providence’s Crosstown Clinic in the Downtown Eastside, where 140 patients receive daily doses of hydromorphone or diacetylmorphine to inject.
“City staff and local addictions experts estimate that there are at least 450 others that are in urgent need of this treatment option,” the release said.
According to the release, city staff estimate it would cost $8 million to provide immediate injectable therapy and psycho-social supports for patients in Vancouver.
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