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Photo by JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS

“It’s a sad state of affairs,” Henry said.

“Some of the drugs are so toxic, and drug users are also taking opioids with sedatives like Valium, alcohol or Xanax. So yes, we’re seeing that many people require several doses,” Henry said, adding that hospital emergency departments are also requiring higher doses of naloxone in intravenous drips to save lives.

“What we’re seeing is these potent toxic drugs, even the smallest amounts cause respiratory depression, cause people to stop breathing. So we may be getting naloxone in but we may need more and more, for longer periods of time because it (naloxone) wears off quickly.”

There are an estimated 55,000 individuals in B.C. who have opioid use disorders.

Joe Acker, director of clinical practice for B.C. Emergency Health Services, said in 2017, ambulance paramedics responded to 23,400 overdoses and the number in 2018 will, in all likelihood, exceed that. (The overall number of overdoses in B.C. would be greater because the figure provided by Acker does not include overdoses attended by other emergency personnel or those not attended by such professionals).

Acker said naloxone was administered in about a quarter of cases and he acknowledged that some drug users react with anger when they are revived with naloxone because it not only “ruins their high” but can also cause nasty withdrawal symptoms.

At times, oxygen may be used instead of naloxone to prevent those effects. Paramedics are no longer required to take drug users to a hospital once they have been revived as long as their assessments show that the client is stable.