780 overdose deaths have B.C. officials urging people to not use drugs alone
VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s health officials are considering plans to offer an overdose reversing drug online and urging drug users not to use alone after an 88 per cent increase in deaths.
Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said many of the 780 fatalities between January and June were among people who died alone. There were 414 deaths during the same period last year.
Lapointe said even in cases when naloxone was available, people who could have administered it didn’t know how to use it to block the effects of opioids. The opioid fentanyl was detected in nearly 80 per cent of deaths between January and May.
At least one health authority is looking into the online option of accessing naloxone, Lapointe said Friday, calling the move the “absolute right approach.”