Opposition uncovers 51 deaths due to overdose in NL last year

    Tuesday, 30 April 2024 12:00

    By Tonya Organ

    Premier Andrew Furey says government can always do more to address this evolving issue. He says this has been an evolving crises that gripped the west coast of this country and is now spreading east.

    The Opposition focused its entire Question Period in the House of Assembly yesterday on the lack of adequate supports for people battling drug addiction, mental illness and urgent mental health crises. Tony Wakeham said the government is not doing enough to help, even though the rate of deaths from addictions is accelerating, with a 143% increase in fatal overdoses recorded since 2019, and the pace of deaths doubling from spring to fall last year. He says last year, 51 people died in this province as the result of overdoses. Premier Andrew Furey says government can always do more to address this evolving issue. He says this has been an evolving crises that gripped the west coast of this country and is now spreading east. Furey says  fentanyl is now hitting our shores. Wakeham added “the number of files assigned to the RNC’s drug enforcement unit has doubled in the past two years, and the number of charges laid is up by a factor of seven.”

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