The Nanaimo area suffered the second worst year ever in 2020 as the ongoing overdose epidemic resurged. (The Canadian Press)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

lives lost

Island Health suffers worst year ever amid fatal overdose epidemic

Feb 11, 2021 | 10:37 AM

NANAIMO — 2020 was a brutal year in the fight against the ongoing overdose epidemic.

B.C.’s chief coroner Lisa LaPointe announced more than 1,700 fatally overdosed in B.C. in 2020, making it the deadliest year on record. This was a 74 per cent increase over deaths in 2019, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

LaPointe said the next steps for decriminalizing illicit substances is the key way forward out of the epidemic but work isn’t happening fast enough.

“Dr. Henry recommended decriminalization or steps to decriminalize two years ago and we have not seen any change. We’re really trying to turn around a very big ship.”

She specifically cited for-profit treatment centres as a major concern in B.C., since there’s few standards of care they need to achieve.

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In Nanaimo, 39 people lost their lives in 2020. It’s officially the second-worst year on record, narrowly edging out 2018 when 37 people died. Though it’s a substantial increase from 2019, it fell far short of the 2017 high of 56 fatalities.

Two people in Nanaimo fatally overdosed in December. Three had died the month before in November, down from four in October.

The BC Coroners Service noted Island Health is the only health authority where fatal overdoses trended downward as 2020 progressed.

Despite the downward trend, Island Health still saw the worst year yet in the ongoing overdose epidemic with 263 fatal overdoses, up from 166 in 2019.

The south Vancouver Island region was dealt the heaviest blow with 135 fatalities, followed by the mid island where 97 people died.

The south Island’s total number of overdoses were the worst ever.

The central Island area’s fatalities fell slightly short from the 2017 high of 99.

Leslie McBain, cofounder of the group Moms Stop the Harm, called B.C.’s recovery system “sketchy” and full of gaps.

“A dead drug user will never recover. I don’t understand why government cannot put out the big safety net we know will work, which is a safe, regulated and legal supply of the drugs, the decriminalization we need and the continuum of care.”

Decriminalization and introducing widespread safe supply are two key mandates for Nanaimo MLA Sheila Malcolmson during her tenure as the minister of mental health and addictions.

Malcolmson told reporters she agreed work wasn’t being done fast enough but believed the downward trend of fatal overdoses before the pandemic was a sign of progress.

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