This is a response to the editorial “Stop calling it an ‘overdose’ crisis, Squamish,” in the March 11, issue of The Squamish Chief lamenting certain aspects of B.C.’s problem with deaths attributable to toxic drug poisoning.
The editor seems to advocate that a change of terminology will set us on the glorious path to hunky-dory-ness with respect to the situation — maybe or maybe not; I think not, but I may be wrong.
My proposal would be to throw some cash at the problem to fund a purposeful, directed, comprehensive program of original research into all aspects of B.C.’s drug death problem, starting with definitions and ending with solutions. It would be expensive.
EEF! EEK! SKREEL! AND SKREEK! – Where oh where would all that money come from?
I suggest taking it from the funding now allocated to our response to the COVID problem. Again, I can hear EEF! EEK! etc.
Let’s compare the seriousness of the two problems. All figures are contained in or are derived from published government documents.
DRUG DEATHS:
The BC Coroner reported 1,726 “illicit drug toxicity” deaths in 2020. The mean age of the decedents was 42.9 years. Assuming a life expectancy of 80.9 years for an average person of 42.9 years, the number of “lost person-years of life” would be 38 x 1,726 = 65,558 person-years. That’s a lot of life lost.
COVID DEATHS:
In 2020, 678 deaths in B.C. were attributed to COVID up to week 50. The mean age of the decedents was 83.26 years. Assuming a life expectancy of 89 years for a person who has ready lived 83.26 years, the “lost person-years of life” would be 5.75 x 678 = 3898.5.
Drug ( 65,558) – COVID ( 3,898.5) = 61,659.5 more person-years of life lost to drugs than to COVID. That’s close to 17 times as many. It seems to me that “drugs” might be the more severe problem.
Last year we were beset by a horrid, novel coronavirus that mutates into ever more lethal and contagious forms, seemingly by the week. It’s going to kill us all if we don’t do all sorts of stuff to “follow the science,” such as mask, distance, isolate, kill small business and maybe wear a tinfoil hat. Most of all, we have to get the MAGIC BULLET – THE “VACCINE”!
The dastardly, demonic bug has killed 1,437 out of our 5.1 million population.
It’s so lethal that it has even killed off the seasonal flu!
Dr. Bonny Henry is probably a lovely person and sincere in her expressed desire to “save lives.”
However, if saving lives is a mandate of a provincial health officer, she seems to be seriously beyond her depth and suffering from tunnel vision. A sense of perspective seems not to be one of her outstanding attributes. “Saving lives” might require an adjustment of focus.
Just scrapping the vaccination fiasco and diverting the cash would be more than adequate to fund a “drug problem” research program that might have a shot at success — a program that genuinely seeks knowledge, not one promoting various agendas (wokeness, snowflakery, etc.). Scrapping the rest of the COVID-19 crap might also be in order.
Fred Rice
Squamish
