‘Critically important’: B.C. needs safe places to inhale drugs, coroner says
Global News
Nearly two-thirds of the overdose deaths in British Columbia this year came after smoking illicit drugs.
Nearly two-thirds of overdose deaths in British Columbia this year came after smoking illicit drugs, yet only 40 per cent of supervised consumption sites in the province offer a safe place to smoke, and the chief coroner says that needs to change.
Lisa Lapointe said the latest data show 65 per cent of overdose deaths in 2023 came after smoking drugs, compared to 15 per cent involving injection, 14 per cent snorting and five per cent from oral consumption. The coroners’ office notes that people can consume using multiple methods.
Also in the data, the updated overdose death toll since the province declared a public health emergency in April 2016. Almost 13,000 have died since then, more than 1,600 this year.
The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said of the 47 overdose prevention sites in B.C., only 19 provide the option to smoke drugs.
B.C.’s original supervised consumption site is a safe injection site, but Lapointe said methods for consuming drugs have shifted over time.
“If we truly want to reduce the risk, and reduce the numbers of deaths, and help make our communities safer, then there needs to be an acknowledgment that providing a safe place for people to use drugs is critically important,” Lapointe said. “And that includes a safe place to smoke drugs.”
Those who study the topic say a combination of stigma, bureaucracy and a lack of political will are obstacles to setting up more sites for smoking drugs.
The latest analysis of the deaths contrasts with data from January 2016 to July 2017, following the declaration of the emergency, which show that one-third of deaths came through injecting drugs, while 36 per cent who died smoked drugs.
Opponents of coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains have some sharp criticism for Alberta's UCP government after being told to resubmit their citizens petition.
Three children in Ontario have died from influenza A-related complications since the start of December, health officials said Monday.
The company that operates the Trans Mountain pipeline has paid a $196,000 fine for environmental lapses along its B.C. pipeline route in the aftermath of a massive Jan. 2024 storm.
Alberta's provincial government has announced the creation of three new all-season resort areas that it claims could generate thousands of jobs and billions in economic benefits.
Corb Lund says he's seeking the intervention as new coal mines could threaten land and water on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and affect the Prairies downstream.
Officers had recently captured four grizzly bears, but forensic results came back to confirm that none of the bears, an adult female and three young, were linked to the attack.
The research recommends occipital nerve blocks should be offered in emergency rooms to treat acute migraine attacks.
A federal vaccine advisory committee voted on Friday to end the longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born.
Darlene Hensch, who once struggled with unexplained infertility, is now expecting quadruplets and preparing for a high-risk delivery and life-changing journey.
Negotiations that could have led to coverage for weight-loss drug Wegovy under Canadian public health plans are not moving forward.
They've been married for 55 years, but for most of that time, something has been missing from Janet and Robert Cockwill's life, until their grandson made a remarkable discovery.
NDP interim leader Don Davies said the government's response to a commissioned report on the program was 'shockingly dismissive,' and the health minister has not committed to act.
The Ford government is routinely making decisions before environmental consultations have concluded and under-resourcing public education about those consultations, the AG found.