Article content continued

“Cities are dealing with the fentanyl opioid crisis on the front lines, but the tragedy is escalating,” said Vancouver Mayor and task force chair Gregor Robertson. “We’re at a breaking point.”

The number of deaths in B.C. due to illicit drug overdose soared to 914 last year from 366 two years earlier. There were a record 142 deaths in December alone.

Comparable data for Ontario isn’t available for 2016, but the number of fatalities related to opioid overdoses between 2013 and 2015 was relatively stable at 530 or so each year. However, the relative number of opioid deaths involving fentanyl increased rapidly, from 120 to 162 over the same period.

Similarly in Ottawa, the number of fentanyl-related deaths increased from just a handful in 2013 to 11 in 2015.

Authorities here are determined to keep this statistic under control.

“This is a huge threat to our community,” said Ottawa police Deputy Chief Steve Bell. “If we look at the experience in B.C. and as it’s come across the country, we’re seeing more and more serious injury and deaths related to those sorts of pills, particularly as it relates to fentanyl.”

He added that this is not just for the police to fight

“We need partnerships from public health, school boards, from our social service agencies to try to get the message out,” Bell said. “Enforcement is one piece, but we need good education, prevention and good treatment programs around this.”

Experience in the U.S., which is also undergoing a profound opioid use epidemic, suggests that controlling fentanyl distribution this time around will be much more difficult. In 2006, the last time fentanyl use escalated into a crisis, heroin users were the main victims. That’s because distributors mixed fentanyl and heroin together.