Overdose deaths jump

Photo: Contributed

Numbers released by the BC Coroners Service show a startling increase in overdose deaths from illicit drugs. Many of the deaths, but not all, have been caused by fentanyl.

According to the service, drug deaths in B.C. have climbed over 88 per cent in the first four months of the year compared to last year.

Figures show that 256 people died from drug overdoses between January and April this year, compared to 136 deaths in the same period last year.

The Interior region had 45 deaths, including 14 in Kelowna and Kamloops, three in Vernon, and one each in Penticton, Merritt and Salmon Arm.

Fentanyl was detected in just under half the illicit drug-related deaths ‎that occurred in the first three months of 2016, compared to 32 per cent detected in all such deaths last year.

Last month, British Columbia became the first province in Canada to declare a state of emergency over the dramatic rise in fentanyl deaths this year.

Fentanyl deaths in the Thompson-Okanagan region between January and March 2016 include: six in Kelowna, five in Kamloops, two in Vernon and Merritt and one each in West Kelowna and Penticton.

A fentanyl overdose can be treated with naxalone, according to chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.

“Naloxone is now widely available in the province, including in some pharmacies without a prescription, and can be administered by anyone trained to use it,” Lapointe said. “This administration is often extremely successful in preventing what would otherwise be a tragic opiate drug overdose death.”

Lapointe urged drug users to have someone nearby that could administer the treatment.