It pins the blame largely on a lack of supports, a corrupted drug supply and users turning to substances as a way of coping with high stress. Opioid-related deaths countrywide could climb as high as 2,000 per quarter in the first half of 2021, far surpassing the peak of nearly 1,200 in the last three months of 2018, according to modelling from the Public Health Agency of Canada. between September and November compared to 184 in the same period a year earlier, according to the B.C. In British Columbia, fentanyl-related deaths had been on the decline for more than a year until April, when monthly numbers routinely began to double those of 2019.ĭeaths linked to fentanyl, a lethally potent synthetic opioid, reached 360 in B.C. Shorter hours, physical distancing measures and a curfew in Quebec, combined with a more lethal drug supply due to border closures, have sent addictions services scrambling to help users across the country as opioid overdoses and the attendant death toll continue to mount. "I think people feel like maybe they just aren't going to make it through this one."ĭrug users face greater dangers as the second wave forces harm reduction sites and outreach programs to curtail their services, leaving at-risk communities out in the cold. "We've seen a really frightening, rapid increase in the number of people using drugs in this pandemic," Muckle says. She restored full capacity in response to the spike in overdoses but many services remain reduced or accessible only virtually. Newsletter sign-up: Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox.The injection facility halved the number of booths to ensure distancing when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March, resulting in a "huge increase" in overdoses in the surrounding community, says Muckle, who for 20 years has headed Ottawa Inner City Health, which provides health care for vulnerable populations. Users filter into the brick building - dubbed "the trailer," a nod to the service's former digs - offering up greetings and grins en route to 16 basement booths, each furnished with a chair, a shatter-resistant mirror and a needle disposal box. Under fluorescent lights, Wendy Muckle surveys the supervised consumption site that sits in quiet contrast to Ottawa's peppy ByWard Market nearby.
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