The majority of those deaths were in Kelowna, where the toll more than doubled from 19 to 40.
To help put that into perspective, back in 2007, well before the arrival of fentanyl, there were only six.
Nick used to be a heroin user. He says drug dealers are cutting their products with fentanyl to increase potency, but it’s a fine line between potent and deadly.
“It depends on availability of heroin itself and how good the heroin is. It’s not that good sometimes. If you put the fentanyl in there, it’s guaranteed to be good, or way too good,” Nick said.
He said users are knowingly rolling the dice with fentanyl because to them, overdosing is a better option than withdrawal.
“They’re going to be sick otherwise so they would rather take a chance,” he said.
While the number of deaths is concerning, Interior Health says the number of people requiring emergency overdose treatment is staggering.
“In terms of how many reach our emergency, it depends on a given month, but we’re certainly seeing 50 to70 in our emergency rooms in a given month,” Interior Health Medical Officer Trevor Corneil said.
One option to help fight the fentanyl crisis might be regulation. Dr. Corneil thinks it’s time to start looking at federally regulating the production of hard drugs such as heroin, much like marijuana is regulated. But admits it’s going to take some time.
“The discussions around other illicit substances are certainly at their infancy as health officers in the province have made it clear that we’re very supportive of that. But I do think that if you look at the time it has taken for us to begin the conversations about marijuana I think it will be some time yet,” Corneil said.
The number of overdose deaths in the Okanagan is just as alarming. So far this year, the number has surpassed last year’s total and a majority of them are happening in Kelowna. A former addict says hard-core drug users are knowingly flirting with death while Interior Health says perhaps it’s time to regulate hard drugs in order to get a grip on the crisis. Kelly Hayes reports.