This is exactly what I was saying with the song "Garden City". Victoria is certainly a drug infested little shithole, but I still love it here. Things were not like this when I was a kid, which is when I start sounding like a cranky old man.....
The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating three potential drug overdose deaths in Greater Victoria over two days.
“Three in 48 hours is concerning. It’s higher than normal for this region,” coroner Barb McLintock said Tuesday.
“On the Lower Mainland, it would be, ‘Here we go again.’ But for this region, three in 48 hours is a lot, particularly when we’ve heard from our community partners, like the police and public health, that there have also been some non-fatal overdoses.”
In addition to the three deaths, police responded to 20 non-fatal drug overdoses on Sunday and Monday.
Victoria police received a 911 call on Sunday afternoon about three people possibly overdosing in the Johnson Street parkade. When officers arrived, they found a man in his mid-30s dead. Two others were taken to hospital.
On Monday morning, Victoria police received a call asking them to do a wellness check on a man in his mid-60s, living in an apartment in James Bay. The man had missed a couple of appointments, which was unusual, McLintock said. Police went to the apartment just before 10 a.m. and found him dead.
“There were signs at the scene this could be related to drug use,” McLintock said.
About 4 a.m. Tuesday, Saanich police were called to a house in the 300-block of Ker Avenue. They found a man in his 50s dead inside the home, said Sgt. Steve Eassie.
“It appears to be a drug overdose,” Eassie said. “We can’t say it’s definitely related to the other incidents, but it looks as though there may be complications related to drug use. It looks like there were multiple types of drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, and a reference to huffing as well.”
Huffing refers to people intentionally inhaling chemicals found in household products such as aerosol sprays to get high.
The coroners service has sent blood samples from all three deceased to be analyzed at the Provincial Toxicology Centre in Vancouver, McLintock said.
She hopes to get the toxicology results from the first death today and from the second and third deaths by the end of the week.
“There’s no suggestion these were naive drug users,” McLintock said. “These were people who were relatively experienced on the drug scene.”
Police and public health authorities are concerned a batch of illicit street drugs has been cut with fentanyl, a powerful drug 50 times more potent than heroin and extremely toxic.
Fentanyl-associated overdoses have increased throughout the province over the past year. The drug is an emerging public health concern, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
In 2014, there were 360 drug-overdose deaths in B.C., many of them related to multiple drugs and alcohol. In 2012, fentanyl was detected in five per cent of overdose deaths. It has now increased to 35 per cent of those deaths.
Until the coroners service gets the toxicology results, McLintock is warning people not to take illicit drugs when they are alone.
“Could this just be that it’s party-from-hell week because it’s the week before Christmas? It could be. There’s just a lot more Christmas parties. Or it may be that there’s some unfortunate contamination or extra strong drugs,” she said.
ldickson@timescolonist.com
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3 potential drug deaths in 2 days hit Victoria area
Louise Dickson
/ Times Colonist
December 23, 2015 06:00 AM
December 23, 2015 06:00 AM
Police and ambulance officials at Johnson Street parkade, where the body of a man was found on Dec. 20, 2015. Photograph By CHEK News
Police and ambulance officials at Johnson Street parkade, where the body of a man was found on Dec. 20, 2015. Photograph By CHEK News
“Three in 48 hours is concerning. It’s higher than normal for this region,” coroner Barb McLintock said Tuesday.
“On the Lower Mainland, it would be, ‘Here we go again.’ But for this region, three in 48 hours is a lot, particularly when we’ve heard from our community partners, like the police and public health, that there have also been some non-fatal overdoses.”
In addition to the three deaths, police responded to 20 non-fatal drug overdoses on Sunday and Monday.
Victoria police received a 911 call on Sunday afternoon about three people possibly overdosing in the Johnson Street parkade. When officers arrived, they found a man in his mid-30s dead. Two others were taken to hospital.
On Monday morning, Victoria police received a call asking them to do a wellness check on a man in his mid-60s, living in an apartment in James Bay. The man had missed a couple of appointments, which was unusual, McLintock said. Police went to the apartment just before 10 a.m. and found him dead.
“There were signs at the scene this could be related to drug use,” McLintock said.
About 4 a.m. Tuesday, Saanich police were called to a house in the 300-block of Ker Avenue. They found a man in his 50s dead inside the home, said Sgt. Steve Eassie.
“It appears to be a drug overdose,” Eassie said. “We can’t say it’s definitely related to the other incidents, but it looks as though there may be complications related to drug use. It looks like there were multiple types of drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, and a reference to huffing as well.”
Huffing refers to people intentionally inhaling chemicals found in household products such as aerosol sprays to get high.
The coroners service has sent blood samples from all three deceased to be analyzed at the Provincial Toxicology Centre in Vancouver, McLintock said.
She hopes to get the toxicology results from the first death today and from the second and third deaths by the end of the week.
“There’s no suggestion these were naive drug users,” McLintock said. “These were people who were relatively experienced on the drug scene.”
Police and public health authorities are concerned a batch of illicit street drugs has been cut with fentanyl, a powerful drug 50 times more potent than heroin and extremely toxic.
Fentanyl-associated overdoses have increased throughout the province over the past year. The drug is an emerging public health concern, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
In 2014, there were 360 drug-overdose deaths in B.C., many of them related to multiple drugs and alcohol. In 2012, fentanyl was detected in five per cent of overdose deaths. It has now increased to 35 per cent of those deaths.
Until the coroners service gets the toxicology results, McLintock is warning people not to take illicit drugs when they are alone.
“Could this just be that it’s party-from-hell week because it’s the week before Christmas? It could be. There’s just a lot more Christmas parties. Or it may be that there’s some unfortunate contamination or extra strong drugs,” she said.
ldickson@timescolonist.com
