More than 10,000 Canadians died from opioid overdoses in less than 3 years: PHAC
Mornings with Simi
English - April 12, 2019 18:40 - 14 minutes - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingBusiness News News Society & Culture Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
A new report by the Public Health Agency of Canada is revealing some grim outcomes of the country’s opioid crisis.
The report says that over 10-thousand people have died from opioid overdoses in the last three years.
In the first nine months of last year alone, 3,286 Canadians died because of this - almost 1,200 of them were in BC - more than any other province in Canada.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says this data shows fentanyl and other fentanyl-related substances continue to be a major driver of this crisis.
Today, there are even more concerns about how patients can be treated. Officials with Vancouver Coastal Health say they've been dealing with an uptick in overdoses over the past few weeks, with the drugs spiked with Benzodiazepines.
And to make matters worse: Naloxone, the antidote given to counter opioid OD's -- doesn't work on Benzodiazepines.
At St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, people are not waking up after being given Naloxone, even though they are still breathing.
Just before we came on air, I spoke with Garth Mullins - you may know him from his podcast - it’s called ‘Crackdown’, and he’s an opioid user who advocates access to opioid addiction treatment like methadone.
Guest: Garth Mullins
Producer of the Crackdown podcast
Opioid user who advocates access to opioid addiction treatment like methadone
A new report by the Public Health Agency of Canada is revealing some grim outcomes of the country’s opioid crisis.
The report says that over 10-thousand people have died from opioid overdoses in the last three years.
In the first nine months of last year alone, 3,286 Canadians died because of this - almost 1,200 of them were in BC - more than any other province in Canada.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says this data shows fentanyl and other fentanyl-related substances continue to be a major driver of this crisis.
Today, there are even more concerns about how patients can be treated. Officials with Vancouver Coastal Health say they've been dealing with an uptick in overdoses over the past few weeks, with the drugs spiked with Benzodiazepines.
And to make matters worse: Naloxone, the antidote given to counter opioid OD's -- doesn't work on Benzodiazepines.
At St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, people are not waking up after being given Naloxone, even though they are still breathing.
Just before we came on air, I spoke with Garth Mullins - you may know him from his podcast - it’s called ‘Crackdown’, and he’s an opioid user who advocates access to opioid addiction treatment like methadone.
Guest: Garth Mullins
Producer of the Crackdown podcast
Opioid user who advocates access to opioid addiction treatment like methadone