In a Press Conference held to address the growing crisis of drug overdose deaths in Vancouver, the police chief says the fentanyl crisis hit a brutal low point Thursday with the overdose deaths of around nine people in a single night.
The Police Chief Adam Palmer said serious help is needed to deal with a problem that is claiming lives at an alarming rate.
Statistics provided by the Police Officers suggest as many as 35 people died of fentanyl overdoses in November alone.
Palmer said addicts need “treatment on demand.”
The B.C. Coroners Service says of the nine deaths, two have not been confirmed as being drug-related but are suspected.
It said there were also four other overdose deaths in B.C. on Thursday.
Between January to October 2016, 622 people in British Columbia died of overdoses.
The B.C. Coroners Service is continuing to work with the Joint Task Force on Overdose Response to try to reduce the death toll.