Eight people in Nanaimo have died from overdoses in 2020

Photo from International Overdose Prevention Day 2017. Courtesy of the Province of BC.

Overdose deaths spike in March across BC as COVID-19 impacts drug supply and harm reduction services

Overdose deaths In BC increased sharply in March with 113 people dying in BC, but are still down from the previous year according to a report from the BC Coroners Service.   

While the overall fatalities are still trending downwards, with 260 deaths in the first three months of 2020 compared to 295 during the same period in 2019, there are concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic is contributing to more overdoses.

“What's happened now with COVID-19 has increased that risk for people who are vulnerable and marginalized already and living in poverty,” said Jane Buxton, medical lead for harm reduction at the BC Centre for Disease Control (CDC). She noted that it was creating challenges for people accessing health and social services. 

There's also a concern that the COVID-19 crisis has disrupted supply lines for illicit drugs. Buxton said as bulk prices rise drugs are being cut with increasingly toxic substances and the strength of street drugs are becoming less predicable.

On May 6, the BC CDC issued a provincial overdose alert stating that they have seen an increase in both fatal and non-fatal overdoses, and that overdoses have been more severe, in the past few weeks

Eight people have died in Nanaimo from overdoses in 2020. In 2019, a total of 27 people in the city died from overdoses which was the fewest since 2015. 

In the central Vancouver Island area, 15 people have died from an overdose in 2020, putting it at a slightly lower rate than last year.

In the Island Health region as a whole there were 38 people who died in the first three months of 2020, which is a lower death rate than 2019. However, 18 of those deaths occurred in March, double that of February . 

Buxton said that the double-threat of the overdose crisis and COVID-19 makes people who use drugs more susceptible to both and they often have other underlying conditions such as bronchitis or heart problems. 

The Canadian Mental Health Association Overdose Prevention Site in Nanaimo has reduced its hours to 11 a .m. to 9 p.m. and only two people can use the site at a time. 

”If you're going to use substances do continue to use overdose prevention sites and supervised consumption sites,” said Buxton. “If that's not possible, then don't use alone. Make sure there's somebody with you or that checks on you to make sure if there are problems that they can respond and carry Naloxone.”

In December, there were a total of 13,815 visits to Overdose Prevention or Supervised Consumption sites in the Vancouver Island Health region and 37 overdoses reversed. A total of 496 overdoses were reversed at sites on the island in 2019. There has not been a single death at any supervised consumption or overdose prevention site in B.C.

Fifty seven per cent of people who died from an overdose in 2020 died in a private residence while another 24 per cent died at another residence like a hotel, rooming house, or shelter. Ten per cent of people were outside when they died of an overdose.