First Nations women had 800% more overdoses: ‘horrific’ crisis’ new B.C. data | Warrior Publications

5.8.17

First Nations women had 800% more overdoses: ‘horrific’ crisis’ new B.C. data | Warrior Publications: by David Ball, Metro Vancouver News, August 3, 2017

The statistics are as shocking as the “horrific” crisis they measure, British Columbia’s new mental health minister, Judy Darcy, warned Thursday.

First Nations women in B.C. were eight time more likely to overdose on drugs than non-First Nations women, and First Nations overall were five times more likely to overdose. As for fatal overdoses, the news was equally grim: one-in-ten B.C. drug deaths last year was First Nations.

The newly released data on how their communities have been slammed by the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic — although a year late because of difficulties collecting and co-ordinating the information — showed that the impact was extremely out of whack with the wider population.

Just 3.4 per cent of B.C. residents are First Nations, so the impacts of deadly opioids are clearly disproportionate and “particularly devastating” for their communities, Darcy said.