BR Opioids – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Mar 28, 2018

OTTAWA – The news about opioid deaths in Canada is not getting any better.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has released grim figures on behalf of a special advisory committee set up to deal with the epidemic of overdoses from prescription opioids and highly toxic illegal drugs.

There were two-thousand-946 deaths believed to stem from opioids across the country in 2016 and all but about two dozen of them were between January to September of last year.

Almost three-quarters of the fatalities involved fentanyl or fentanyl analogues, compared with 55 per cent the year before.

Fentanyl can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine.

Authorities have identified China as a leading source of opioids entering North America and Canada is working closely with the United States and Mexico to address the issue.

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(The Canadian Press)

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