A post-pandemic spike in drug deaths continued in N.L. last year. The biggest culprit? Cocaine

On the day he sold his pickup truck, Jeff Bourne looked at the passenger seat and counted all the people who once rode with him that are no longer living.

He stopped after 30.

Bourne, who runs the peer support group U-Turn Addiction Recovery in Carbonear, N.L., has been losing more friends lately than ever before.

"They're not bad people. They're just sick people that's trying to get well."

At least 74 people died from consuming drugs in Newfoundland and Labrador last year, eclipsing 2023's record of 73 deaths.

Of the total number of drug deaths last year, 61 were deemed accidental, nine were suicides and four were undetermined.

The numbers, which were shared with CBC Investigates by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, show cocaine was the deadliest drug in the province, contributing to 34 deaths. Fentanyl was the key factor in 17 deaths, while benzodiazapines were found to be at fault in 14 deaths.

Tammy Bourne — peer support lead at U-Turn — said there was a shift during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is now factoring into the fatalities they're experiencing.

"We've had a lot of people who had a lot of long-term recovery in, and went back out using during the pandemic because of the stress and the isolation," she said. "We've had a lot of deaths of people who've been coming around for a long time. We've had a lot of deaths since the pandemic."

That's backed up by the numbers, which show the number of accidental drug deaths nearly doubled in 2023, coming down only slightly in 2024.

Opioids and stimulants a dangerous mix, says medical examiner

There were more than 550 autopsies in Newfoundland and Labrador last year. Of those, 13 per cent were from drug deaths. The bulk of those were performed by the province's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Nash Denic.

Some were obvious — people found with drug paraphernalia and signs of long-term drug use, like a road map leading to the cause of death. Others were more complicated, showing only internal hints of drug use later confirmed by toxicology results.

Opioids remain top of mind for harm reduction advocates and grab the majority of attention in the news, but Denic said people should always be cognizant of cocaine's risks.

"Individuals have to know cocaine is still [the] most dangerous drug, and the reason being is that we don't have an antidote," Denic said.

An opioid overdose can be reversed with naloxone, but cocaine cannot.

Fifteen of the 74 total deaths last year involved a stimulant, such as cocaine, and an opioid taken together. Denic said in many of those cases naloxone was administered, but it did not revive the person. 

"They may have fentanyl on board, but they also may have cocaine. And the cocaine is going to be the substance that is going to kill the individual, so the Narcan will not help."

Jeff and Tammy Bourne switch into different modes depending on what they're doing on a given day. As people, they have lived experience with addiction and mental illness. As peer support workers, they share those experiences with others to make them feel more like friends, and less like clients. 

But, when someone dies, they have to take on a different, almost parental role, to help others get through it without relapsing.

That's taking a toll on the couple as of late.

"We don't really have an amount of time for us to grieve," Jeff Bourne said.

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