Over 24,600 people died in the last five years due to opioid toxicity in Canada.
That’s according to a BCCDC study looking at the drug preference of people in the province, and showed that of the 621 people surveyed at harm reduction supply distribution sites, 57.8% had a preference for heroin.
“People in Northern Health reported the highest percentages of a preference for heroin at around 81%,” said BCCDC research epidemiologist Max Ferguson.
The study also showed a 32.8% preference for fentanyl across the province, and a 9.4% preference for prescription opioids.
They said there were some key factors that were found between the preference for fentanyl vs heroin, and geographic region was one of those factors.
“We absolutely see older individuals, so especially those 50 and older, and especially those in Northern Health having a preference for heroin.”
“People are using fentanyl most of the time, because that is what’s currently available on the drug market,” added Ferguson.
They said it was interesting to see how many people actually preferred heroin to other drugs.
“When we took a look at the different groups, and the populations within those groups, such as women, transgender people, men, people of different ages, people living in different geographic areas, we saw across all of these categories, more than 50% of these people reported a preference heroin.”
The federal government has also encouraged the expansion of diacetylmorphine (pharmaceutical grade heroin) for the treatment of opioid use disorder.
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