Vancouver OD deaths keep rising

~ Jason Schwartz

From the Vancouver Sun:

More than 20 temporary supervised injection sites opened in Vancouver, Victoria and across the province and a mobile medical unit was deployed — although medical staff have since been withdrawn — in the Downtown Eastside, all of them kitted out with life-saving naloxone and trained staff. More than 3,000 overdose events have been safely managed since late December.

Despite these measures, more than 100 people have died due to drug overdose so far this year in Vancouver, a pace that would see 400 people dead by the end of the year. There were 216 overdose deaths in Vancouver last year and 922 in the province, roughly five times the number for an average year.

And, the provincial context from David Juurlink:

 

Published by Jason Schwartz

I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work. Views expressed here are my own. Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.