Crisis of opioids: hard beginning of the year in British Columbia

QMI agency

Wednesday, 7 march, 2018 00:29

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Wednesday, 7 march, 2018 00:31

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The year 2018 is off to a bad start on the front lines of the fight against the opioid, while the monthly number of deaths due to overdose of drugs has jumped by 25 % in British Columbia.

The Office of the chief coroner of British Columbia stated Tuesday that 125 people died of a drug overdose in January 2018, against 100 people by December 2017.

Despite this increase, the year will start better than in 2017, where 142 people had lost their lives in January. This month was the second deadliest of the year, behind April, and its 149 victims.

Last year, 1422 people have been killed after a drug overdose in the province. The number, 1156 had consumed, willingly or unbeknownst to them, the fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than morphine.

By way of comparison, 317 people died in a car accident in the province in 2016.