8 years since B.C. declared public health emergency, toxic drug crisis rages on
In the dozen years she's worked with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, executive director Brittany Graham has lost count of the people she's seen succumb to British Columbia's toxic drug crisis.
Sunday marked eight years to the day since the province declared a public health emergency related to the deadly toxic drug crisis, and Graham said it's a sombre anniversary as she and others in public health reflect on the thousands of deaths.
“Last time I did a count it was somewhere in the 65 to 75 person range of people, and to give that perspective to people, that's more than a yellow school bus full,” Graham said in an interview Sunday, referring to deaths of people she's known in her dozen years working with the support network.
“That's a lot of people that no longer exist who were kind and thoughtful and just really lovely people.”
In a statement released Sunday, Premier David Eby said the toxic drug crisis has had a “catastrophic impact” on families and communities.
“There is much more to do,” Eby said. “And together, we can end a crisis that has taken far too many of our neighbours, friends and family members.”
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry further noted in the statement that the public-health emergency has strained the province in “unprecedented ways.”
The B.C. government and public health officer announced the emergency in April 2016 and since then more than 14,000 people have died, most of them from the highly potent opioid fentanyl.
Graham said a community townhall on the anniversary of the declaration will allow Downtown Eastside community members to “grieve collectively” and discuss how to “build their way forward.”
But with both provincial and federal elections looming, Graham fears “the toxic politics is what's going to be killing people next,” as politicians vie to win votes touting ineffective solutions to the deadly crisis.
She said what's needed are regulations for drugs that are similar to those for alcohol.
“In many ways, alcohol is one of the most toxic substances you can consume, but because we give people education, we have minimum pricing standards because we have regulations on where you can access it and where you can drink it, those are all ways in which harm reduction and public health are being utilized towards that specific substance. We don't have any of that happening towards illicit substances at the moment,” she said.
“This is a toxic drug crisis, so unless we have regulation, we're always going to have a higher and higher amount of drug deaths.”
Eby noted that toxic drug deaths have taken a toll on friends and loved ones of those who've been lost, and also on front-line workers who deal with the ongoing damage done by addiction and drug deaths.
He said the situation needs to be recognized as a “health crisis,” adding his government is trying to build and improve the province's mental-health and addictions-care systems.
Henry, meanwhile, said drug users come from “all walks of life,” often dealing with trauma, and those who try to free themselves from addiction have to go through a recovery process that isn't “linear” or hinged upon total abstinence, she said.
“We must continue to have courage and to be innovative in our approach to this public-health crisis that continues taking the lives of our friends and families in B.C. daily,” Henry said.
Graham said all governments need to rethink their approach to drug users by recognizing the ways support systems fall short and leave those seeking help unable to get treatment when they decide to seek it.
At the same time, she said many city governments have pushed for laws to ban public drug use, pushing users further to the margins with nowhere to go.
“In the middle of this overdose crisis, we've decided to have public use legislation to say now you can't be outside,” she said. “These municipalities do not want to fix anything. They just want people to go away and these are real people with real families, with real lives, with real jobs and the further you push people away, the bigger this crisis will get.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump returns to his campaign facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order
Donald Trump on Wednesday will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order.
Ontario woman surprised after 20-year-old fines suddenly tank credit score
An Ontario woman says that she was shocked when provincial fines from 20 years ago suddenly tanked her credit score last week, but the situation may not be as unusual as it seems, according to at least one debt expert.
Anger can harm your blood vessel function, study shows
Stress and anger can have a negative impact on cardiovascular health, studies have shown. New research points to just how the mechanism may work.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Newfoundland fisherman says police broke his leg during protest that delayed budget
Richard Martin is spending this year's fishing season on land after he says a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer broke his left leg in three places during a protest last month that shut down the provincial legislature.
A 98-year-old in Ukraine walked miles to safety from Russians, with slippers and a cane
A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine who escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10 kilometres (six miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane has been reunited with her family days after they were separated while fleeing to safety.
Will an 'out of sight, out of mind' cellphone policy make a difference in Ontario schools?
Ontario’s cellphone ban in schools has been met with mixed reaction, with some teachers concerned about constant policing of kids and experts applauding the change as necessary for student learning.
A Utah couple accidentally shipped their cat with an Amazon return. A week -- and 3 'miracles' -- later, they were on a plane to meet a stranger
The Amazon returns employee wasn't at work the day one of her colleagues at a California warehouse found a small, furry stowaway in a box mailed six days earlier from Utah. But Brandy Hunter got the call anyway.
Duelling protesters clash at UCLA hours after police clear pro-Palestinian demonstration at Columbia
Dueling groups of protesters clashed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another. Hours earlier, police burst into a building at Columbia University that pro-Palestinian protesters took over and broke up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school while inspiring others.