Canadá: 10 000 muertes relacionadas con opioides registradas de 2016 a 2018

El Gobierno federal tiene la intención de asignar 30,5 millones de dólares extraordinarios durante cinco años para enfrentar la crisis que vive el país. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

By Jackie Dunham | CTV News

More than 10,000 Canadians have died from opioid-related overdoses in two-and-a-half years, according to new data released by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The new statistics, published on Wednesday, showed there were more than 10,300 deaths as a result of an apparent opioid-related overdose from January 2016 to September 2018.

During the first nine months of 2018 alone, PHAC said 3,286 Canadians died from apparent opioid-related overdoses. Of those deaths, the data shows that 93 per cent of them were accidental.

The deadly drug fentanyl was cited as a main contributor to the crisis, with fentanyl or fentanyl-related substances blamed for 73 per cent of the deaths from January to September 2018.

“The data show that fentanyl and other fentanyl-related substances continue to be a major driver of this crisis,” PHAC said in a statement.

The public health agency said the crisis is impacting the entire country, with British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta seeing the highest rates of deaths.