Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Toronto braces for Fentanyl

The chief coroner for Ontario reports that fentanyl was involved in 165 deaths in 2015, a slight rise from the previous year, but almost double the 86 deaths documented in 2010. The numbers for 2016 are currently unknown.

The province's rate of fatal overdoses pales in comparison to the situation in BC, which reported 755 opioid-related deaths between January and November 2016. That's an increase of 70.4 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Toronto Public Health's front-line workers are already seeing more users overdose on opioids. The city is waiting on federal approval for three supervised injection sites.

The reality is Toronto is almost certain to reflect the growing US numbers in time, something British Columbia is already doing.
So far, only 18 states and D.C. have made available any 2015 data on fentanyl overdose deaths.

The limited data aren’t encouraging. Massachusetts saw a 103 percent increase in fentanyl deaths between 2014 and 2015, and West Virginia recorded a 229 percent increase year over year.