opioid crisis

Naloxone is used to treat opioid overdoses. (Black Press Media file photo)

Island Health issues overdose warning advisory for Greater Victoria

Call 1-888-885-8824 to connect with mental health and substance use resources

 

A lawyer for a pharmaceutical firm says holding a single trial in British Columbia to determine each province’s damages related to opioid health care costs would be a “monster of complexity.” Prescription pills containing oxycodone and acetaminophen are shown in this June 20, 2012 photo.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy

Pharma lawyer suggests B.C. opioid class action suit too big to certify

Johnson and Johnson rep argues certification would ‘burden’ B.C.’s justice system

 

North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas will write a latter to the province asking that the overdose prevention site on York Road be moved to another location. (Citizen file photo)

North Cowichan wants new location for overdose prevention site

Municipality cites some ‘serious concerns’ with York Road location

 

First Nations Health Authority acting chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman was consulted on the BC Coroner Service’s recent death review panel report on the toxic drug crisis that was released Nov. 1, 2023. Wieman speaks about the illicit drug toxicity deaths in the province and about the effect on First Nation’s communities during a press conference at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

First Nations grappling with toxic drug crisis need own solutions: B.C. doctor

First Nations Health Authority rep says safer supply engagement lacking in First Nations communities

First Nations Health Authority acting chief medical officer Dr. Nel Wieman was consulted on the BC Coroner Service’s recent death review panel report on the toxic drug crisis that was released Nov. 1, 2023. Wieman speaks about the illicit drug toxicity deaths in the province and about the effect on First Nation’s communities during a press conference at B.C. Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, February 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Andrew Leavens, front left, and Carl Gladue, right, carry an empty coffin during a march organized by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Thursday, August 31, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

UPDATED: B.C. rejects experts call for non-prescription access to safer drug supply

Coroner’s death review panel says expanded safer supply fastest way to save lives, but B.C. says ‘no’

Andrew Leavens, front left, and Carl Gladue, right, carry an empty coffin during a march organized by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) to mark International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Thursday, August 31, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth Thursday tabled legislation that excludes sport fields, beaches, parks, outdoor recreation spaces, public entrances and bus stops from the current decriminalization trial unfolding in the province. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito)

B.C. expands off-limit areas of drug decrim pilot to include bus stops, parks

Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth tabled legislation Thursday

Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth Thursday tabled legislation that excludes sport fields, beaches, parks, outdoor recreation spaces, public entrances and bus stops from the current decriminalization trial unfolding in the province. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito)
Moms Stop the Harm advocates and supporters gather on the sixth anniversary of the toxic drug supply public health emergency in Victoria on April 14, 2022. Numbers released by the BC Coroners Service show 174 people died from the toxic supply in August 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

174 people died from toxic drug supply in August, B.C. coroner finds

Unregulated drug toxicity is leading cause of death for British Columbians aged 10 to 59

Moms Stop the Harm advocates and supporters gather on the sixth anniversary of the toxic drug supply public health emergency in Victoria on April 14, 2022. Numbers released by the BC Coroners Service show 174 people died from the toxic supply in August 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Starting Monday (Sept. 18), playgrounds, spray pools, wading pools and skate parks will join schools as zones excluded from the temporary decriminalization of certain illicit drugs as part of a federal-approved trial in British Columbia. (Monica Lamb-Yorski/Black Press Media)

B.C. excludes playgrounds, rec areas from drug decriminalization trial

Changes come into effect Sept. 18 after Health Canada approved provincial request

Starting Monday (Sept. 18), playgrounds, spray pools, wading pools and skate parks will join schools as zones excluded from the temporary decriminalization of certain illicit drugs as part of a federal-approved trial in British Columbia. (Monica Lamb-Yorski/Black Press Media)
B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside steps away from the podium after speaking during a news conference in Vancouver, on Monday, January 30, 2023. Whiteside was at the Metro Vancouver’s mayors council on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023 to discuss the issues around public drug use. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Decriminalization meant to save lives in toxic drug crisis: Whiteside

Mental Health and Addictions Minister speaks to Metro Vancouver mayors committe on public drug use

B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside steps away from the podium after speaking during a news conference in Vancouver, on Monday, January 30, 2023. Whiteside was at the Metro Vancouver’s mayors council on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023 to discuss the issues around public drug use. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
People march along Powell Street in Vancouver on April 14, 2023 during an event to mark the seventh anniversary of the toxic drug crisis in B.C. The province said Aug. 23, 2023 that at least 198 people died in July due to toxic drug poisonings and there have been 1,455 deaths in the first seven months of the year. (Photo: Lauren Collins)

198 people died in B.C. in July due to toxic drug poisonings

The latest data comes just 2 days before International Overdose Awareness Day

People march along Powell Street in Vancouver on April 14, 2023 during an event to mark the seventh anniversary of the toxic drug crisis in B.C. The province said Aug. 23, 2023 that at least 198 people died in July due to toxic drug poisonings and there have been 1,455 deaths in the first seven months of the year. (Photo: Lauren Collins)
Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns, left, tours with the mobile methadone van in Portugal. The van is part of the mobile low threshold methadone program run by Ares do Pinhal, a non-governmental organization for social inclusion, according to Johns. (PHOTO COURTESY GORD JOHNS)

Island MP visits Portugal in search of solutions to toxic substance crisis

Gord Johns foots the bill for trip, saying he ‘can’t wait’ for gov’t intervention

Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns, left, tours with the mobile methadone van in Portugal. The van is part of the mobile low threshold methadone program run by Ares do Pinhal, a non-governmental organization for social inclusion, according to Johns. (PHOTO COURTESY GORD JOHNS)
Candice Chaffey holds a syringe from a naloxone kit as she poses for a photo in Toronto, on Thursday, June 29, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey

A look at Canadians carrying naloxone to save strangers

More people are carrying naloxone kits with them on the streets as drug poisoning-related fatalities break records

Candice Chaffey holds a syringe from a naloxone kit as she poses for a photo in Toronto, on Thursday, June 29, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey
Figures from BC Coroners Service show 176 people lost their lives in connecting to unregulated drugs in May 2023. The five-month-total of 1,018 through 2023 sets a new grim record. (Black Press Media file photo)

Premier David Eby says B.C. remains in the grips of an unregulated drug crisis

Province sets new grim record as more than 1,000 people have died through first months of 2023

Figures from BC Coroners Service show 176 people lost their lives in connecting to unregulated drugs in May 2023. The five-month-total of 1,018 through 2023 sets a new grim record. (Black Press Media file photo)
A technician with the Substance Drug Checking project uses an infrared spectrometer to test drug samples. Researchers hope the technology could help the shift to automated services. (Courtesy of Jay Wallace)

UVic researchers hope to boost drug-checking access through automation

Automated services would alleviate need for technicians, increase access in small communities

A technician with the Substance Drug Checking project uses an infrared spectrometer to test drug samples. Researchers hope the technology could help the shift to automated services. (Courtesy of Jay Wallace)
The provincial government is now covering opioid agonist treatment designed to help people counter their dependence on heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl among other opioids available through medical service plans.(Photo courtesy of Island Health)

B.C. to cover costs for opioid-use disorder medications becoming 1st province to do so

Change came into effect June 6 using MSP to cover opioid agonist treatment

The provincial government is now covering opioid agonist treatment designed to help people counter their dependence on heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl among other opioids available through medical service plans.(Photo courtesy of Island Health)
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry looks on as chief coroner Lisa Lapointe discusses details about the province’s application for decriminalization in the next step to reduce toxic drug deaths during a news conference in the press gallery at the legislature in Victoria, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

B.C. officials push back against safe supply critics and their ‘polarizing rhetoric’

Officials seek to rebut claims that drugs prescribed through the B.C.’s safe supply program are being re-sold to young people

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry looks on as chief coroner Lisa Lapointe discusses details about the province’s application for decriminalization in the next step to reduce toxic drug deaths during a news conference in the press gallery at the legislature in Victoria, Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Leslie McBain, co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm, takes part in a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Drug policy advocate group Moms Stop the Harm wants meeting with Poilievre

MPs defeated Poilievre’s motion that aimed to condemn the Liberal government’s approach to fighting drug addiction

Leslie McBain, co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm, takes part in a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 30, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
An automatic system drops pharmaceutical orders on a conveyor belt to be placed into boxes at Morris and Dickson Co., in Shreveport, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping opioid painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended in 2018 it lose its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis. (Henrietta Wildsmith/The Shreveport Times via AP)

DEA’s failure to punish distributor blamed in opioid crisis raises revolving door questions

Distributor was allowed to keep shipping highly addictive painkillers for nearly 4 years

An automatic system drops pharmaceutical orders on a conveyor belt to be placed into boxes at Morris and Dickson Co., in Shreveport, Wednesday, July 13, 2016. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping opioid painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended in 2018 it lose its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis. (Henrietta Wildsmith/The Shreveport Times via AP)
Protesters stop at the intersection of Powell and Main streets in Vancouver to listen to speeches on April 14, 2023 during an event marking the seventh anniversary of the toxic drug deaths in B.C. (Lauren Collins photo)

814 people died from toxic drugs in the first 4 months of 2023: BC Coroners Service

Public Safety Ministry says fentanyl has been found in 79% of deaths this year

Protesters stop at the intersection of Powell and Main streets in Vancouver to listen to speeches on April 14, 2023 during an event marking the seventh anniversary of the toxic drug deaths in B.C. (Lauren Collins photo)
Elizabeth and Kevin Sawatzky on their wedding day. They were happy and looking forward to a long life together, but a drug overdose took all of that away. (submitted photo)

Chilliwack drug overdose victim leaves grieving family behind

Elizabeth Sawatzky dreamed of a long life with husband Kevin until toxic drugs took him away

Elizabeth and Kevin Sawatzky on their wedding day. They were happy and looking forward to a long life together, but a drug overdose took all of that away. (submitted photo)