P.E.I. fatal drug overdoses at highest level in decade

The number of Islanders who died from accidental drug overdoses is at its highest level in a decade.

Eleven Islanders died from overdoses in 2015, according to the P.E.I. Department of Justice and Public Safety. 2015 is the most recent year in which the cause of death numbers have been analyzed.

Overdoses almost double in one year

That's almost double the number of fatal overdoses from the previous year, when there were six deaths.

Almost half the fatal overdoses in 2015 — five — involved opiates, and one of those involved fentanyl.

When CBC looked back at deaths from overdoses, there had been 32 fatal overdoses between 2005 and 2014. Two deaths over that time involved fentanyl.

• Opiates involved in nearly half of P.E.I. drug overdose deaths
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The analysis of overdoses for 2016 is not yet complete, according to the department.

The numbers do not include fatal overdoses involving alcohol alone.

'Not a current public health crisis'

While opioid use is happening on P.E.I. "it is not a current public health crisis in this province," said P.E.I.'s Chief Public Health Office (CPHO) in an email to CBC.

The statement says with 0 to 5 opiate-related deaths a year in the past decade, the average rate was 1.5 a year.

• The year of the fentanyl crisis: How we got here
• Opioid crisis prompts opening of multiple 'overdose prevention sites'

"However, given the trend in other jurisdictions and the impact of this issue across the country, the CPHO is working with key stakeholders, including physicians, mental health and addictions, pharmacists, coroner's office and the justice community on an action plan to mitigate the occurrence of accidental opioid-related deaths in P.E.I," said the statement. 

The email also points out that there are four methadone clinics across the province and there is no wait times at any of them right now.

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