Northern Health and Prince George RCMP are warning drug users after a dramatic spike in overdoses.
At least 12 people experienced serious opioid overdoses over three days between Nov. 20 and 22. No one died.
Over the last couple of months Prince George typically saw between one and two overdoses each week, said Medical Health Officer Dr. Andrew Gray, calling the recent spate “quite a spike.”
“Whatever they’ve used seems to be stronger than what had previously been circulating, so taking longer to come out of it, more medical support to treat that overdose,” Gray said in an interview.
First responders have had to give higher-than-normal amounts of naloxone to reverse the overdose effects, causing some fears that an unusually toxic or unpredictable batch of drugs is currently in circulation.
“We think it may be a different substance,” Gray said. “I’ve spoken with a couple of clinicians who feel the presentations that they’re seeing are new,” he said, adding they had experience with fentanyl. “They know how to manage them because they have lots of experience but this did seem different to them.
Most of the patients needed prolonged stays in the emergency department and high doses of naloxone in order to recover safely, the release said. RCMP have sent out some of the substances for tests but Cpl. Craig Douglass said he had no idea when those results would be ready.
Douglass said police are stressing there is no safe way to use street drugs. Douglass said officers have been reaching out to known drug users to warn of the potential potency, but it’s a difficult conversation with an addicted person.
“Most of the people we deal with that are drug users are (more) concerned about getting a high and fulfilling that need than they are necessarily with what they are putting in their body,” he said.
This week Vancouver police warned users about carfentanil after seizure of the opioid, which is used to tranquilize elephants and believed to be 100 times more powerful than fentanyl.
Both Gray or Douglass said they had not received any reports to indicate carfentanil is on Prince George streets.
“I’m not aware of it being detected in the north to date but this is another highly toxic opioids that it’s part of the mix,” said Gray, noting the strategies to address overdoses are similar even when the substance is more potent. “It does help people to be prepared if we’re able to have clear sense of what exactly is circulating.”
The BC Coroners Service released figures Wednesday showing there were 622 fatal overdoses from illicit drugs between January and October compared with 397 during the same period last year. The north had recorded 36 deaths by the end of October, and increase of 10 on the total last year.
The powerful painkiller fentanyl was detected in about 60 per cent of all illicit drug deaths between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, triple the number during the same months in 2015.
On Tuesday Barb McLintock, a spokeswoman for the coroner's service, said the agency is not yet equipped to test regularly for carfentanil but is expected to start next month.
Public Health officials' advice to reduce the risk of overdose and death from overdose:
- Don't use alone; have a naloxone kit handy and ensure the people with you know how to use it
- Start with a small amount
- Mixing substances, including alcohol, increases risk of overdose
- Use where help is easily available (e.g. around other people)
- Use less. If you took a break, were in detox/treatment or jail, or are new to use, your tolerance is lower
- If you have ever experienced an overdose be aware that you are more likely to overdose again
- Make a plan/know how to respond in case of an overdose
- with files from Canadian Press
