Province Injects Dollars into Addiction Treatment Research
Victoria, B.C.- With the rising number of overdose deaths in B.C. the Province will be boosting its efforts to prevent fatalities in the future.
The government is allotting $10 million dollars to support a BC addiction treatment research and training centre and to fund strategies outlined by the Joint Task Force on Overdose Prevention which was established in late July ( see previous story).
Half of the funding will go towards establishing a BC Centre on Substance Use and will focus on addiction research, health provider education and clinical care guidance.
The timeline is tight with the new centre tasked with coming up with a provincial guideline to treat opioid addiction this fall.
The BCCSU will also work closely with the recovery community to develop learning opportunities, linkages and appropriate referral mechanisms.
The other $5million will be put towards areas such as issuing naloxone. Naloxone is a safe medication that can reverse the effects of an overdose and has been used to reverse more than 700 opioid drug overdoses since the program was launched. Money will also be spent training police how to administer it in the event of overdose cases. The Prince George Fire Rescue department has recently applied to be able to have naloxone on hand and for training to administer the medication.
Other initiatives to be funded include:
* a community outreach strategy by police and health authorities, including community forums to increase awareness of fentanyl dangers;
* equipment and supplies for the RCMP Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response Team to support B.C.’s police with drug testing;
* enhanced enforcement activities targeted at illicit fentanyl traffickers;
* enhanced file investigation for overdose deaths by the B.C. Coroner’s Service;
* renovating and equipping new spaces or purchasing mobile units to expand supervised injection sites
* purchasing drug identification equipment for B.C.’s Provincial Toxicology Centre at the BC Centre for Disease Control; and
* enhanced surveillance work on overdoses by health authorities and the BCCDC.
The number of overdose deaths in B.C. led Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall to declare a public health emergency in April of this year. That declaration sparked the establishment of the take home naloxone program.
Comments
Waste of money. I say let those bums kill themselves off. One way to clean up downtown. How about we use the money for infrastructure, environment, or education?
Good post…well thought out… once all the drug addicts o.d. and die there will be no more bums downtown. You should run for office.
I agree Arny, this is a choice these people make. Put the money towards people that have cancer or some other disease that effects people that did not choose to harm themselves.
So, a smoker gets lung cancer, we just let her suffer and die? A person eats MacDonalds 3 times a weeks and end up with heart failure from being morbidly obese, just let her die?
Drug addiction is a symptom, not a cause. How do you know a choice was made.
Does one get a depression, for instance, by choice? One day a person wakes up and says to him/herself: “this seems like a good day for a depression”.
Or does one, for instance, get a depression because the best friend they have had for the last 20 years has died?
Then there comes this serendipitous moment when you take a few drink a few drinks too many, take some mind numbing drugs, run 20 miles till you are exhausted …. and an addiction is born.
Lots of garbage comments on this discussion thread today, most of them based on complete ignorance about addiction issues. Carry on reading, but you were warned.
Here we are in a full blown Fentanyl overdose epidemic and this idiotic, and completely out of touch, provincial government wants to spend millions on a “research” center.
Ignore that fact there is a shortage of addiction treatment beds for youth in this province… sheesh… people are dropping dead on our streets and the government wants to spend money on “research” rather than treatment… WTF!!!
.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/treatment-beds-for-you-addicted-to-fentanyl-drop-despite-premier-s-promise-1.3780058
This province is a national, and international, embarrassment!
Naloxone was pilot tested in BC first and provided to first responders ahead of other provinces which now race to catch up.
BC is also one of the first provinces to make Naloxone available without a prescription
Yay BC!
“A public health emergency was declared province-wide earlier this year following an uptick in overdose deaths, many of them linked to drugs laced with the powerful opioid fentanyl.”
So how does our provincial government respond to a “public health emergency”? Apparently by pumping millions into research rather than treatment. This government is completely out of touch with reality, and no amount of positive spin from its peanut gallery supporters is going to change that fact!
Agree, it is ridiculous response to people dying! The BC Liberals talk about increasing beds while cutting them by 25%. This doesn’t surprise me as Clark and the gang have no ethics what-so-ever.
You are almost as sly as Hillary but I will bite
Research into preventing fatalities in the future will save lives and reduce the number of overdose deaths in the long run. Win-win for all involved
* enhanced enforcement activities targeted at illicit fentanyl traffickers;
I agree with this completely. If there is some way they can track where the drug came from, these people need to be held responsible too.
Fentanyl is made by big pharma. Oddly enough, so is Naloxone. If the pharmaceutical companies cannot regulate the distribution of this problem, then THEY should be paying for the outcome of their creation. They are making money hand over fist off both drugs. They should be tasked with cleaning up their mess. Fentanyl has no business being used or allowed outside of a hospital. How is such a large amount becoming available on the street?
Seems a little crooked doesnt it? The same company that is making the problem, is also selling the antidote. The govt and the cops need to follow this drug right from the production line in order to figure out how to stop it from getting onto the street. This is not a D.I.Y drug that can be created with off the shelf chemicals…
Election coming… Money coming outta nowhere
Coming out of the surplus budget
All money comes out of nowhere. ‘Money’ is ‘contractual’ in its creation, and the terms of the contract that created it didn’t exist before they were made and agreed to between banker and borrower.
Anyone that works in the hospital will tell you Emerg is a revolving door for drug addiction, and these people take up 80% of our valuable emerg resources. a solution is needed to get these people anywhere but emerg, unless they are really needing it.
Meth addicts, young adults with Hep 1, 2 and 3 still shooting up and sharing needles… every day… it never changes.
Axman, cigarettes and McDonalds are legal, the drugs these people choose to take are not.
So if you break the law your not entitled to treatment?
How bout these scenarios?
MVA with life threatening injuries: “Were they speeding?” “yup”
“Let them die, it was his choice to speed”
Man shoots himself while cleaning his gun: “Did he have his PAL?”
“Nope. “It was his choice to have that gun with no permit, Let him die”
How bout this one?
Girl walks home from work in the middle of the night every night in a bad area. Gets beaten and assaulted, What do you say to her? “you put yourself in that situation. No treatment for you!”
So you are comparing a girl walking at home at night to a druggie buying illicit drugs from a pusher in an alley then sticking a needle in his arm? Sorry I do not see the correlation.
You stated above that its about choices people make. I’m just trying to figure out how you would determine who does and who doesn’t get help based on their choices.
Walking home at night is illegal?
Isn’t Peter North a bisexual porn star?
So what I am hearing is “Go ahead and shoot up, share needles, we will look after ya.
No, that’s not what your hearing. Maybe if you had a higher IQ you would realize that much time and effort has gone into finding ways to fight this huge problem of street drug, and this is a small part of a very complex situation. But according to you, people who make bad choices should be left to die. Simple as that. What would you contribution to this massive problem be? I’m sure you got it all figured out
What I’m hearing is that an Ex Mr. Universe and a bisexual porn star see no need to invest in ways to combat growing a problem that drains our system of even more money and social well being.
Just let em die off. You’re forgetting that there are many more to replace them if we don’t try to do something about it.
I believe these people are not worth saving. It’s not just one bad decision that led them to their lifestyle, it’s a history of it. It may sound bad but theirs 7.4 billion of us on this rock.
Really? I had no idea.
Does your Mom know you are watching porn in her basement?
Arguing with some people on here is like wrestling with a pig in the mud, after a while you realize the pig enjoys it.
You need work on your little analogies, they are cringeworthy and wore out their snap factor around 1955.
Uh oh, I just realized some people will think I called them pigs…
So VestedInterest, you base a persons IQ on whether or not they agree with you, nice. Why don’t you just englighten us all on how things should be since you are so intellectually superior.
“Intellectually Superior” This coming from a guy that doesn’t think someone who made bad choices is worthy of help and should just die.
Pot , meet kettle.
I merely based my estimate of your IQ on your posts, past and present.
I do agree with you on one thing though. I am enjoying this.
How about this… make every drug available legally.. but if you OD you are on your own…in about 3-5 yrs overdoses will be minimal..
Do you have any idea how many people make their living on illegal drugs. And I’m just talking about the legitimate side. The judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, police, prison workers, medical people. It’s a huge industry that keep a lot of people employed. You can’t just go and make it legal overnight and put all these people out of work. What would they do? Whenever government does something that doesn’t make sense – look at the money – that will explain everything. Drug money is laundered in such a way, that taxes are paid on it to make it legit. Then taxes are paid on the legit drug money when they buy stuff. It’s a self funding system that keeps a lot of people working. Don’t go messing with a good thing. People die of alcoholism all the time, no one is crying a tear for them. And there’s another self funding addiction called smoking.
Now, to be totally cynical, the government only needs you to live until about 60ish, after that, you cost more than you are worth. You’ll want to collect a pension, you’ll need more health care. So this self culling system serves a collective good.
These “victims” drug addicts are actually seeking out the fentanyl. They want to inject it for a better high. The risks in their mind are outweighed by the rewards. There is no help for this kind of thinking. These people are too far gone for help. Between the meth they where using now the fentanyl their brains are shot. Let them die and invest in the youth of today that are not too far gone. Once you are that far down the addiction hole all is left is the dirt on top of you. Start in the elementary schools with education, poverty reduction and removing these children from their losing home situations. Helping the people who don’t want help is too late.
I don’t think you are asking for having a Heart Attack or a Stroke even with all the Steps you take to avoid one, but taking Drugs and over Dosing is something else, you can’t be helped go ahead and take a Chance next time you may not be so lucky!
VestedInterest, you sure seems to have a lot of knowledge about the porn industry. I guess we know where your interests lie.
Hey Moderator, you might want to start removing some comments on this discussion thread, what does “porn” have to do with the Fentanyl overdose epidemic?
JGalt, I find it rather amusing, actually I find it really really amusing that you make a comment about “garbage’ comments only to then have another bleeding heart like you refer to another commenter as a bisexual porn star, haha!
Amazing how you bleeding hearts are ok with your own knuckle dragging comments!
Shame on you!
Curious comment from another member of my loyal fan club. Has nothing to say about my comments but will gladly attribute someone else’s comment to me… now that kind of demented thought pattern can only come from a loopy rightie.
And just to make sure HG’s comment, and my response to it, is not a total waste of time; here is a picture of Donald Trump’s military record.
ht tp://tinyurl.com/je4hu7x
Not trying to change the subject, but how on earth did you get a picture of Trump’s military record? I thought that was one of the things that Hillary deleted in her 30,000 or so emails, haha!
It’s funny how the Christy Era seeks an election win. Wait till we see what’s going on, save our money so we can maintain a AAA credit rating, not react to a huge problem that was realized early this year but now come election time…..red light goes off we need to spoon feed the province and voters now to secure our seats. Pretty sad. I think Christy keeps pulling these things and her fate will become the same as Harper’s.
And northern health recently cut the number of staff at the youth addiction treatment program.
Comments for this article are closed.