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<h3><span style="color:#1a0202;"><strong>Nine people died from fentanyl opioid overdoses in the Canadian city of Vancouver in just the past 24 hours, Mayor Gregor Robertson said, Friday</strong></span></h3>
<p>The spike in in drug-related deaths comes as Canada much like the United States, has been struggling to contain an overdose crisis that claimed 2,000 lives last year, with even more expected in 2016.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-114571" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/vancouver-mayor-robertson1.jpg" alt="Vancouver mayor, Robertson1.jpg" width="620" height="380" /></p>
<h6><strong>Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson</strong></h6>
<p>Vancouver city mayor, Gregor Robertson addressing a press conference, Friday, lauded existing harm reduction services such as drug consumption rooms in the city, but said more treatment options are urgently needed. He was flanked by the city&#8217;s police chief and other emergency officials, as he told the assembled media:</p>
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<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s desperate times in Vancouver and it&#8217;s hard to see any silver lining right now when we haven&#8217;t hit rock bottom,&#8221; he said, warning of more overdoses to come.<br />
Delving into an endemic issue into which the government has poured tens of millions of dollars into bolstering public health emergency responses, with little effect, Robinson said: &#8220;Can you imagine nine people dying from another cause in one day in our city?&#8221;<br />
Police Chief Adam Palmer in his address called for more help for addicts.<br />
Across the border, the United States has also seen a sudden spike in fentanyl-related deaths, including the apparent overdose of the pop star Prince in April.<br />
Vancouver has seen an average of 15 overdoses a month and police are currently investigating 160 fatalities, Palmer said.<br />
The city coroner&#8217;s office said morgues have reached capacity.</p>
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<h6><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-114565" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/vancouver-canada.jpg" alt="vancouver canada.jpg" width="2000" height="1330" /><br />
<strong>Canada Place, Vancouver</strong></h6>
<p>Most of the deaths occurred in the gritty Downtown Eastside neighborhood, where an open drug market and extreme poverty persist despite decades of interventions.<br />
As the crisis snowballed, the city council approved a 0.5 percent property tax hike this week to help stem the number of overdoses.<br />
<span class="m_first-letter">T</span>he funds are to go to support frontline emergency workers, shelters and outreach centres.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, the federal government this week removed hurdles to opening new drug consumption rooms &#8211; as demand skyrocketed &#8211; and expanded its fight against narcotics trafficking at the border.<br />
Its revamp of drug laws is expected to pave the way for at least nine new drug consumption sites &#8211; known in Canada as &#8220;supervised injection sites&#8221; &#8211; across the nation, and more customs searches for fentanyl.<br />
The first North American consumption rooms were established the only facility on the continent where addicts can receive medical supervision as they inject heroine illegally bought on the street.<br />
The clinic was established in Vancouver&#8217;s Downtown Eastside in 2003 under a special exemption from federal drug possession and trafficking laws.<br />
Ottawa also recently restricted six chemicals used to make fentanyl and partnered with China to stem its flow into the country from abroad.<br />
Highly potent and addictive, the analgesic fentanyl is estimated to be up to 100 times stronger than morphine. The related drug carfentanil is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl.<br />
Two milligrams of pure fentanyl, the size of about four grains of salt, is enough to kill an average-size adult.</p>
<h6><img class="alignnone wp-image-114552" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/prince-onstage1.jpg" alt="prince-onstage1" width="554" height="650" /><br />
<strong>Pills seized from the home of singer Prince contained the dangerously powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl but were mislabelled</strong></h6>
<p>Fentanyl is an extremely strong painkiller, prescribed for severe chronic pain, or breakthrough pain which doesn&#8217;t respond to regular painkillers.<br />
It is an opioid painkiller which means it works by mimicking the body&#8217;s natural painkillers, called endorphins, which block pain messages to the brain.<br />
It can cause dangerous side effects, including severe breathing problems. The risk of harm is higher if the wrong dose or strength is used.<br />
In April, the late singer Prince died of an accidental overdose of the dangerously powerful synthetic drug.</p>
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Nine dead in Vancouver in 24 hours from fentanyl opioid overdose
