Nearly 14,000 Canadians killed by opioids since 2016, federal advisory body says

Close to 14,000Canadians have been killed by opioids and more than 17,000have been hospitalized for opioid-related poisoningover the last four years, according to new federal data.

Thereport, titled "Opioid-related harms in Canada" and assembled by a national advisory committeestudying the epidemic of opioid overdoses,was released Wednesday by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Between January and June 2019, the latest figures available, there were 2,142 apparent opioid-related deaths. To put that six-month total into perspective,about 1,700 diein motor vehiclecollisions each year in Canada, according to federally compiled statistics.

Opioids are a class of drugs that includes heroin, certain prescription painkillers and illicit fentanyl.The drugs can cause respiratory depression, unconsciousness and death. When bystanders or health professionals give naloxone by needle or nasal spray adapter, it can reverse the effects of the drugs.

Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, and Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, issued a joint statement saying a bulkof the deaths were caused by illegal drugs being contaminated with toxic substances.

Theysaidfentanyl and other potent synthetic opioids continue to be a major cause of hospitalizations and deaths.

To put the 13,913 Canadians who died of an apparent opioid-related overdose over four years into context, about13,500 people died from cerebrovascular disease such as stroke andaneurysms in just one year, 2018

The opioid epidemic in North America took off about a decade ago with massive increases in prescriptions of narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin, fentanyl, codeine and hydrocodone.

The problem was made even worse in recent years by an illicit fentanyl crisis.

Fentanyl, a highly potent and addictive opioid, can be mixed into opioids sold on the street. As a result, people don't know the potency ofdrugs they may take.

Tam has previously saidcreating a safer opioid supply will require exploring what treatments people need.

The data also showsthousands of Canadians continue to havenon-fatal overdoses each year and hundreds of thousands more are affected by problematic substance use.

In their statement, Tam and Shahab saidthe opioid overdose crisis is a complex problem that will take time to turn around.

Western Canada continues to be the most affected by the opioid crisis, but Ontario has also seen a rise in opioid-related deaths, according to the data.