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Fraser Health has issued a warning about a rise in unregulated drug poisonings in Surrey and White Rock over this past week.
The health authority said it’s uncertain of how many of the poisonings were fatal, but said it noted an increase in 911 calls and patients going to emergency rooms in the area — more than normal.
It couldn’t say exactly what substances are being found in people’s drugs.
“The unregulated supply is constantly changing and unpredictable,” said an emailed statement from Dr. Lindsay Bowthorpe, Fraser Health’s medical health officer.
“It’s often a combination of high potency substances like different benzodiazepines, opioids (including carfentanil) and tranquilizers.”
Rosa Sundar-Maccagno, executive director of Surrey Union of Drug Users (SUDU), said some of the organization’s members have noticed the drug supply over the past two weeks cut with more non-opioid sedatives, which are unresponsive to opioid-reversing naloxone.
“There’s been an increase, and an increase in the strength as well, of the level of sedation that people have been experiencing, which may be related to a higher concentration of veterinary tranquilizers in the supply. Or more sedatives,” they said.
Sundar-Maccagno said it’s especially difficult for people to be certain of what’s in their drugs in the Surrey-White Rock area.
“The availability of drug checking services is a lot more limited in Surrey,” they said.
10 years of a public health emergency
April 14 marked 10 years since the B.C. declared a public health emergency due to toxic drug deaths.
Since then, more than 18,000 people have died.
While annual deaths have trended down slightly in recent years, many continue to call on the provincial government for more action.
A decriminalization pilot project was launched in 2023, but the government rolled back portions of it before it ended on Jan. 31 this year.
“In B.C. I think there was a point where there was a little bit more hope, maybe two or three years ago,” said Sundar-Maccagno.
“And now it feels like a lot of the gains that had been won have been sort of clawed back.”
