Fatal overdoses

According to the BC Coroners Service, in January 2020, 61 died from an overdose across BC, including 16 people in the VCH region.

Overdoses seen at Emergency

In February 2020 there were 437 overdoses seen at nine VCH Emergency Departments. The majority of overdoses occurred in males (67%) and in people aged 19 to 39 years (55%).

Supervised Consumption and Overdose Prevention Sites 

Insite

In February 2020, there were 8,358 visits to the supervised injection room. Among those, 62 overdoses were reversed. 

Powell Street Getaway 

In February 2020, there were 2,955 visits to the supervised injection room. Among those, seven overdoses were reversed.  

Overdose Prevention Sites

In February 2020, there were 29,206 visits to all supervised injection rooms. Among those, 171 overdoses were reversed. 

Drug Checking

In February 2020, 536 drug checks were performed and 44% of substances tested contained fentanyl.

What's happening

In December 2019, 'MySafe', Canada's first automatic hydromorphone dispensing machine program was launched, in Vancouver DTES, next to the Overdose Prevention Society OPS.