Prince George paramedics respond to 999 overdose calls in 2020

B.C. paramedics have responded to more overdose calls than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Prince George is no exception.

BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) says calls for overdoses spiked last year. The final tally for 9-1-1 calls from someone suffering a potential overdose was 27,067 in 2020, up 12 per cent over 2019.

In July, dispatch staff and paramedics handled the highest number of overdose responses ever recorded in a single month, totalling 2,706 calls and averaging 87 a day.

In Prince George, the number of calls jumped from 629 in 2019 to 999 calls last year, an increase of 375 cases or 37 per cent.

Other cities around the province saw similar spikes, like in Fort St. John, where calls rose from 77 to 125.  

In Kelowna, the number of calls increased from 869 in 2019 to 1,168 in 2020, and Penticton had 474 overdose calls in 2020, up 87 per cent over the previous year.

Overdose calls in Kamloops jumped from 613 in 2019 to 883 in 2020.

With current drug toxicity prompting frequent health authority warnings, overdoses require multiple doses of Naloxone, and the patient often has breathing and neurological complications.

Northern Health and the First Nations Health Authority have recently issued an overdose alert, warning that benzodiazepines, commonly known as 'benzos,' have been found in illicit drugs circulating in the region.

The alert says users of drugs contaminated with benzos might be difficult to rouse and could also be slow to respond to naloxone, the drug that reverses opioid overdoses.

Health officials say benzos impede brain activity and raise the potential for overdose when mixed with street drugs laced with opioids such as fentanyl, which slow breathing and heart rate.

The health authorities say street drugs have become increasingly toxic and unpredictable during the COVID-19 pandemic and they urge area drug users not to use alone.

Every health region across the province saw an increase in overdoses, however, there was one anomaly in the Vancouver Coastal region that saw a four per cent decrease.

Surprisingly, Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside saw a 14 per cent decrease in calls.

For the last few years, the DTES community has averaged more than 5,000 overdose calls a year. In 2020, that number dropped to 4,574, from 5,335.

- with files from Darren Handschuh, Castanet, and The Canadian Press