Up to 20 people died of an overdose in Penticton, last year, at a per-capita rate even higher than in 91大黄鸭.
Data is still in its preliminary stages, as the B.C. Coroners Service awaits more toxicology reports, but a spokesperson said the total number of overdose deaths in Penticton is not likely to drop lower than 17. The Western News obtained that number after a lengthy discourse with the Coroners Service, initially hesitant to release any data for Penticton.
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That compares to 75 in 91大黄鸭 and makes up part of the 150 deaths in the Okanagan, which saw a rate of 38.5 deaths per 100,000 people.
Using B.C.鈥檚 2017 population projections, consistent with the Coroners Service鈥檚 methodology, 91大黄鸭鈥檚 rate of overdose deaths adds up to about 37.5 per 100,000. Even at the lower end of its range, Penticton rate would be higher, with a rate of 40 to 48 per 100,000. At the high end, that is still shy of the rate seen in Vancouver, just shy of 53 per 100,000.
Provincially, with 1,422 deaths last year, the rate sits just below 30 per 100,000.
Penticton did not make 2016鈥檚 top-15 list, but Vernon鈥檚 overdose death toll hit 13 that year. Penticton鈥檚 would have been lower than that.
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For another comparison, though, B.C. Emergency Health Services responded to 220 overdose and poisoning calls in 2017, up 40 per cent from 2016. That compares to a 21.6-per-cent spike in overdose/poisoning calls B.C.-wide and a 32.4-per-cent rise in 91大黄鸭, with 1,040 calls last year.
Typically, overdose calls make about three-fifths of all overdose and poisoning calls.
鈥淲e do hear of overdoses 鈥� overdoses, not necessarily deaths, but certainly overdoses on a weekly basis,鈥� said Daryl Meyers, executive director of Pathways Addictions Resources Centre. 鈥淭here鈥檚 reports of carfentanil, now, in the area.鈥�
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Neither Penticton nor Vernon made the top-15 list put out by the Coroners Service this year, and after a request for the numbers for Penticton, the provincial service suggested it could only provide numbers for the health services delivery area, that being the Okanagan region.
A few emails were exchanged with the Coroners Service between Jan. 31 and Feb. 14, followed by phone conversations this week with advocacy group B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association and independent freedom-of-information and privacy watchdog Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.
A conversation that followed with Coroners Service led to the release of Penticton鈥檚 figures.
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Part of the issue is the balance of privacy and access to information, something that governments are still figuring out, and something that will be explored further in a follow-up article in the Western News.
鈥淭his is the kind of thing that really should be made available, and should probably be made available on a website,鈥� said FIPA B.C. executive director Vincent Gogolek.
鈥淥bviously fentanyl poisonings and other related things are being a matter of public interest these days.鈥�
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dustin.godfrey@pentictonwesternnews.com
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