Three Richmond residents died of toxic drugs in January.
The BC Coroners Service released its statistics for January on Tuesday showing how many people died that month across the province from drugs that are tainted with fentanyl, benzodiazepines and other toxins that can cause drug users to go into respiratory arrest.
There was a total of 211 deaths in B.C. in January.
Fentanyl was detected in 84 per cent of all drug poisoning deaths.
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) has limited programs whereby they provide medical-grade drugs to people in addictions, and the coroner's office noted in its report that there's “no indication that prescribed safe supply is contributing to illicit drug deaths.”
Of all the deaths in B.C., 83 per cent occurred indoors, of which 55 per cent were in private residences and 29 per cent were in other residences, including single-occupancy hotel rooms, shelters, hotels and social/supportive housing.
Fifteen per cent of deaths occurred outside, in vehicles, on the sidewalk or streets and in parks.
According to Meena Dawar, Richmond’s medical health officer, VCH is working on having an “episodic” safe consumption service, but they don’t see the need for a standalone safe-injection site.
To be effective, a safe-injection site should be near an identified group of drug users who are able to walk to the site.
“In Richmond, there’s not a neighbourhood or area where we could provide such service,” Dawar recently told the News.
The coroner reported there have been two deaths at safe-injection sites in B.C., one last year and one this year.
