How a B.C. family is using conversation and a sports car to raise awareness on B.C.’s overdose crisis

Trevor Tablotney spent Wednesday on a special bench in Richmond’s Minoru Park, talking to anyone who cared to listen.

The bench is engraved with his younger brother’s name: Curtis Tablotney. Curtis died one year ago from a toxic drug overdose at the age of 36.

“He passed away by himself in his bedroom playing PlayStation,” said Tablotney.

He was discovered the next day by his father. Curtis struggled for years with mental illness and addiction.

On the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, Trevor and other members of the Tablotney family brought naloxone kits, education pamphlets and a special car to try and tackle the stigma of drug use and addiction.

"The overdose story is so common," Trevor says, adding that people who stop to talk to him often share their own stories of losing friends or family to toxic drugs.

Nearby, Curtis’ mother Debbie Tablotney showed off a decked-out Mitsubishi sports car with a new paint job and label on the hood titled ‘Curtis’ Dream’. The car was Curtis’ pride and joy. His family spent months transforming the vehicle to be used as part of their campaign to fight the overdose crisis.

“We could use it as a vehicle for conversation," Trevor said.

"You come up and you’re like, ‘wow this car is so neat’ and then (I say) 'it was my brother’s. He died of a toxic drug overdose. By the way, there’s some naloxone in the trunk,'”

Trevor refers to it as a symbol of hope on wheels, aiming to remove the stigma of drug use and addiction with the ultimate goal of saving lives.

The one-year anniversary of his brothers’ death comes as the province sees a rising trend in overdose deaths.

Recent numbers from the BC Coroners Service show almost seven people in BC are dying every day from drug use.

“It is an awful situation our province faces,” said Premier David Eby Thursday at a press conference. “We have a billion dollars in the budget to expand our recovery system and a new approach in communicating with the public about the toxic drug crisis. We’re going to keep working at it.”

Since the province declared a public health emergency in 2016 – more than 13,000 people in B.C. have died from toxic drugs.