Minister of Addictions Warns of Escalating Overdose Crisis and Urges Immediate Action Due to Rising Fatalities
The national average of fatal drug overdoses has reached 22 per day, which amounts to “one of the most serious and unprecedented public health threats in Canada’s recent history,” says the federal mental health and addictions minister.
The supply of drugs is growing in Canada and fentanyl has made the supply increasingly dangerous, said Ya’ara Saks in a statement commenting on newly available government data on overdoses and deaths, which said saying there are roughly 80 opioid-related poisoning emergency department visits across the country daily.
A total of 42,494 deaths have been linked to opioids between January 2016—when national surveillance began—and September 2023, the report found. Eighty-two percent of 2023’s overdose deaths have been connected to fentanyl use, a 44 percent increase since 2016.
Ms. Saks emphasized throughout her statement that the main factor behind the rise in overdoses is the “illegal” and “toxic” drug supply, phrasing often used by safer supply supporters to differentiate street drugs from the government-funded opioids being prescribed to people struggling with addiction.
“The rapidly changing and volatile illegal drug supply is a key driver behind this increase in deaths, hospitalizations, EMS responses, and emergency department visits,” Ms. Saks said, describing the ongoing issue as “heartbreaking.”
BC’s chief coroner has made similar distinctions between the illegal and government-funded drug supply, but critics of safer supply say it is fuelling the addiction crisis as well.
RCMP said earlier this month they had the seized more than 10,000 prescription pills—many of them government-funded “safer supply” pills—as part of recent drug busts in Prince George. Police said the seizure highlights an “alarming trend” of safe supply drugs being confiscated in police drug busts over the past year, often linked to organized criminal networks.
Ontario, B.C., Alberta Hardest Hit
Eighty-eight percent of all accidental suspected opioid toxicity deaths in Canada in the first nine months of 2023 occurred in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, Ms. Saks said.
He said his staff had heard reports of the drugs being laced with date rape drug GHB, with ketamine, which is a powerful anesthetic, and even with an unidentified animal tranquilizer.
The hardest hit areas, according to the report, are Vancouver, Surrey, and Nanaimo.
Drug overdose was also responsible for nearly 1,700 deaths in Alberta in the first 10 months of 2023, according to the Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System. That’s an average of roughly four opioid-related deaths a day.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has pointed the finger for her province’s drug issues at B.C.’s safer supply initiative, saying she believes drugs from the program are being diverted into the rest of Canada.
Ms. Smith, in a March 8 statement, called on British Columbia to stop the flow of safer supply drugs into her province.
“Alberta has been warning for years that diversion of high-potency opioids from these programs could be diverted and trafficked across Canada,” she said. “In Alberta, we have made the provision of ‘safe supply’ illegal to prevent this very thing from happening. Unfortunately, that does not stop organized criminals from bringing it here illegally from other provinces.”
Ottawa also plans to invest in law enforcement and expand access to treatment, after-care, and recovery services across the country, she said. She also touted supervised consumption sites, calling them “lifesaving” and a way to reduce public drug use, the spread of infectious diseases, and the strain on emergency medical services.