opioid crisis

NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson speaks with the media about her private members bill regarding abandoned vessels, in Ottawa on Thursday, November 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

MALCOLMSON: B.C. expects feds to ‘make our application a priority’ on drug decriminalization

B.C. is the first province to offer a safer supply program

  • Nov 29, 2021
NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson speaks with the media about her private members bill regarding abandoned vessels, in Ottawa on Thursday, November 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Carolyn Bennett at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Minister Bennett says national opioid crisis plan to be informed by proposals in B.C.

‘We have an obligation to listen to the people who are actually doing this work, and then respond’

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Carolyn Bennett at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
B.C. chief coroner Lisa Lapointe provides an update on illicit drug toxicity deaths in the province during a news conference at the legislature in Victoria on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Langley records near-record numbers of toxic drug deaths

Powerful opioids in a toxic drug supply continue to claim lives

B.C. chief coroner Lisa Lapointe provides an update on illicit drug toxicity deaths in the province during a news conference at the legislature in Victoria on Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Paramedics respond to a call as Vancouver city councillor Jean Swanson attends a march to remember those who died during the overdose crisis and to call for a safe supply of illicit drugs on International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. applies to decriminalize personal possession of illicit drugs amid opioid crisis

Since 2016, the province has lost 7,700 people to toxic drug poisonings

Paramedics respond to a call as Vancouver city councillor Jean Swanson attends a march to remember those who died during the overdose crisis and to call for a safe supply of illicit drugs on International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Naloxone. (File)

184 people died of illicit drug overdoses in July in B.C.’s 2nd deadliest month on record

July has brought the death toll for the year to 1,204 deaths

Naloxone. (File)
This photo shows a Narcan nasal device. (AP File Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Horgan promises B.C. will fund naloxone kits for police

Pledge comes in the wake of revelation funding and supplies had dried up in multiple locations

This photo shows a Narcan nasal device. (AP File Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Police departments no longer receive funding for naloxone kits. (Courtesy Oak Bay Police Department)

Province cuts funding for police naloxone kits amid B.C. opioid pandemic

Three Greater Victoria departments say their funding has dried up, unclear if other forces affected

Police departments no longer receive funding for naloxone kits. (Courtesy Oak Bay Police Department)
Former Chilliwack drug user Mike K. speaks about his experience as an addict in the third part of The Hidden Crisis video series. (Justin Booth/ Dock Visual Media)

VIDEO: ‘My experience with cocaine was a real dark place,’ says former Chilliwack addict

Chilliwack man speaks about life when he was an addict as part of overdose prevention video series

Former Chilliwack drug user Mike K. speaks about his experience as an addict in the third part of The Hidden Crisis video series. (Justin Booth/ Dock Visual Media)
A woman walks past a person using a glass pipe to smoke drugs in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Drug users group files decriminalization lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court

Health Canada spokesman Mark Johnson said that Justice Canada is reviewing the claim

A woman walks past a person using a glass pipe to smoke drugs in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Chilliwack paramedics Megan Tait and Chris Ens speak about the overdose crisis in the Eastern Fraser Valley in the second part of The Hidden Crisis video series. (Justin Booth/ Dock Visual Media)

VIDEO: Overdose deaths climbing in Fraser Valley and beyond, says Chilliwack paramedic

A look at the opioid crisis from the eyes of 2 Chilliwack paramedics in 2nd ‘Hidden Crisis’ video

Chilliwack paramedics Megan Tait and Chris Ens speak about the overdose crisis in the Eastern Fraser Valley in the second part of The Hidden Crisis video series. (Justin Booth/ Dock Visual Media)
FILE – A woman holds up a sign bearing a photograph of Morgan Goodridge during a memorial march to remember victims of overdose deaths in Vancouver on Saturday, August 15, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

B.C. becomes 1st in Canada to launch province-wide prescribed safe drug supply access

Program to include prescription fentanyl patches, as well as injectable and tablet forms of hydromorphone

FILE – A woman holds up a sign bearing a photograph of Morgan Goodridge during a memorial march to remember victims of overdose deaths in Vancouver on Saturday, August 15, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
A screen grab from ‘The Hidden Crisis’ video series by Pacific Community Resources Society in Chilliwack. (Justin Booth/ Dock Visual Media)

Opioid crisis videos filmed in Fraser Valley focus on ‘hidden population’

3-part series on overdose prevention aims to change stigma attached to opioid users and their families

A screen grab from ‘The Hidden Crisis’ video series by Pacific Community Resources Society in Chilliwack. (Justin Booth/ Dock Visual Media)
This photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. Canada’s public health agency says the COVID-19 pandemic drove an increasingly deadly overdose crisis last year that continues to take lives and corrode communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah via AP

Seventeen Canadians per day died from opioids in 2020: Public Health Agency of Canada

At least 21,174 people have died from apparent opioid toxicity between 2016 and 2020

This photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. Canada’s public health agency says the COVID-19 pandemic drove an increasingly deadly overdose crisis last year that continues to take lives and corrode communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah via AP
Drug injection supplies are pictured inside the newly opened Fraser Health supervised consumption site in Surrey, B.C. Tuesday, June 6, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. marks 14th month of 100+ deaths as 176 people fatally overdose in April

At least 176 people fatally overdosed, or roughly 11 deaths every two days

Drug injection supplies are pictured inside the newly opened Fraser Health supervised consumption site in Surrey, B.C. Tuesday, June 6, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Jodi Higgs (right) holds a vial of naloxone and Christine Christensen holds a kit in the parking lot of the Pacific Community Resources Society in Chilliwack on Thursday, May 20, 2021. The society is offering a number of upcoming events, workshops and videos to help educate friends and family members who have loved ones that are drug users. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)

Educating family, friends key to helping ‘hidden’ population of substance users

Naloxone training one of many ways to help folks closest to unseen population of opioid users

Jodi Higgs (right) holds a vial of naloxone and Christine Christensen holds a kit in the parking lot of the Pacific Community Resources Society in Chilliwack on Thursday, May 20, 2021. The society is offering a number of upcoming events, workshops and videos to help educate friends and family members who have loved ones that are drug users. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)
Vancouver mayor-elect Kennedy Stewart addresses supporters in Vancouver on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Vancouver mayor says there’s no time to redo details of drug decriminalization plan

Kennedy Stewart says a federal election could see the small window of opportunity close on the city’s bid for an exemption from criminal provisions on simple possession of small amounts of drugs

Vancouver mayor-elect Kennedy Stewart addresses supporters in Vancouver on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson speaks with the media about her private members bill regarding abandoned vessels, in Ottawa on Thursday, November 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

B.C. to add mental health, substance use support for youth to 15 communities

Roughly $56 million, as part of the 2021 provincial budget, will be used to launch the teams

NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson speaks with the media about her private members bill regarding abandoned vessels, in Ottawa on Thursday, November 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Ambulance crews have been busy with a record number of emergency overdose calls this Wednesday, April 21. (BC Emergency Health Services)

B.C. paramedics responded to a record 138 overdose calls in a single day

Wednesday’s calls included 48 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and 51 in Fraser Health

Ambulance crews have been busy with a record number of emergency overdose calls this Wednesday, April 21. (BC Emergency Health Services)
Teena Clipston is asking for support for her son as he struggles with his addiction. (Teena Clipston)

‘Where else do we go for help?’: Okanagan mom struggles to aid son fighting opioid addiction

Teena Clipston is learning that help can be hard to find

Teena Clipston is asking for support for her son as he struggles with his addiction. (Teena Clipston)
A woman holds up a sign bearing a photograph of Morgan Goodridge during a memorial march to remember victims of overdose deaths in Vancouver on Saturday, August 15, 2020. The B.C. Coroners Service reported a record number of 175 overdose deaths related to illicit drugs in June. Approximately 5,000 people have died due to illicit-drug overdoses since a public health emergency was declared in 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Former health officials, advocates reflect on anniversary of B.C.’s overdose emergency

The year of the pandemic saw record-high overdose deaths

A woman holds up a sign bearing a photograph of Morgan Goodridge during a memorial march to remember victims of overdose deaths in Vancouver on Saturday, August 15, 2020. The B.C. Coroners Service reported a record number of 175 overdose deaths related to illicit drugs in June. Approximately 5,000 people have died due to illicit-drug overdoses since a public health emergency was declared in 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
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