Increase in drug overdoses in 2 B.C. cities prompts warning from health officials

A fentanyl test strip is used at Vancouver Coastal Health in Vancouver, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

An increase in overdoses in two B.C. cities prompted a warning from public health officials a day after a similar advisory was issued elsewhere in the province.

The Fraser Health Authority is warning users in Abbotsford and Surrey to be extra cautious following an increase in overdoses in the cities last week.

FH officials said it doesn't appear that the overdoses are tied to one particular substance, but to different samples of opioids including heroin.

They're advising users to be especially careful if using opioids and stimulants together, as there's an increased risk of overdose from injection and inhalation.

The warning from the health authority's harm reduction team was posted Feb. 17, just one day after staff at Interior Health warned of extreme levels of fentanyl and benzodiazepines found in drugs being sold as down or fentanyl.

The high concentrations were found in samples of "all colours and texture," Interior Health said in an advisory posted online on Feb. 16. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/drugs-with-extreme-fentanyl-benzo-levels-increasing-overdose-risk-in-b-c-interior-1.5784582

Officials in the Interior said there was a high risk of fatal overdose associated with the substance, as well as an unresponsiveness to the overdose antidote naloxone due to the presence of benzos.

Both warnings remain in effect this week.

These warnings follow what was B.C.'s deadliest year yet in the public health crisis associated with opioid overdoses. By the end of 2021, a record-breaking 2,224 people died of illicit drug overdose in the province.

• Read more: 4 things a former user says we're doing wrong
• Death toll 26% higher in 2021 than previous record 
• B.C. paramedics responded to nearly 100 drug overdoses per day in 2021, data shows

"It is with tremendous sadness that I report that our province is in a worse place than it has ever been in this drug toxicity crisis," Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said in a news conference on Feb. 9.

Earlier this year, she said drug toxicity has become such a problem in B.C. that it's second only to cancer in terms of total potential years of life lost.

"By comparison, COVID-19 is 12th," Lapointe said in December.