BR NS Opioid Deaths – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Nov 24, 2016 

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s chief public health officer is warning the province to get ready for a potential wave of deaths due to illicit fentanyl.

Robert Strang also said yesterday that officials must address the issue of painkiller over-prescription.

Strang says the link between the two issues was his prime take-away from discussions at a recent national summit examining Canada’s opioid crisis.

He says the problem of fentanyl being cut into other street drugs hasn’t reached levels seen in other provinces, like B-C and Alberta.

But, he says Nova Scotia should learn from the experiences of other provinces about how to deal with the problem that is making its way east in Canada.

For example, he says a colleague in B-C outlined the extent of that province’s problem, saying there were over 90 calls for overdoses over the weekend, with 13 suspected deaths.

Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine says the federal government is expected to issue new prescribing protocols for doctors in January.

The province has recorded 49 fentanyl deaths this year.

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(The Canadian Press)