Correction: A previous version of this story listed an incorrect number of substance-use beds that were opened in B.C. The numbers have now been updated.
A Coroner’s inquest began Monday into the death of a Coquitlam teenager who died of a fentanyl overdose in a private substance abuse treatment facility last year.
In one of the most high-profile cases of the growing overdose crisis in B.C., 20-year-old Brandon Jansen died in March while at the treatment centre in Powell River.
A two-week inquest by the BC Coroners Service will look into what went wrong leading up to Brandon’s death.
Brandon’s mother Michelle has reservations about the process and wonders if any recommendations that come out of the inquest will do any good.
“This is a very important exercise but if those recommendations aren’t implemented and they just sit on the back burner and people continue to die, why did we do this?” she said Monday.
Michelle said Brandon was just a typical teenager, who was “full of life.” She says Brandon’s life changed when he casually experimented with drugs laced with fentanyl at a party with his friends.
Michelle knew she had to get her son into rehab, but because of the excessively long wait-lists for government-funded beds, she found the money for private care.
Michelle said she spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to fight his addiction, but it wasn’t enough.
Three days into his program, Brandon died of an overdose at the very facility where he was supposed to be treated for his addiction.
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The Sunshine Coast Health Centre in Powell River was the 11th drug-treatment centre he attended.
Michelle claims text messages on Brandon’s phone showed he arranged to have a dealer drop off fentanyl to him at the centre in the hours before he overdosed and died alone in his room.
In September, Michelle accused Premier Christy Clark of having “blood on her hands” after the premier failed to keep her promise of extra beds for people battling addiction and pressed her for change in how the province is handling the overdose crisis.
READ MORE: Fentanyl overdoses killed hundreds of Canadians this year, experts say 2017 could be deadlier
A third-party investigation was launched into Brandon’s death that absolved the treatment centre of any responsibility. Michelle wasn’t invited to hear the findings of that report.
Moreover, the report suggested another client or even a family member may have been the one who supplied Brandon with illicit drugs during his stay, which, Michelle said, was impossible.
She also claims the centre never reached out to her or offered her condolences.
Earlier this month, Michelle said the centre offered to start a scholarship in Brandon’s name, but if she chose to decline the offer, “things could get really ugly” at the inquest in terms of the information that they would bring forward about her, Brandon and the family.
The centre has denied those allegations.
The Jansen family has been hit hard by the deadly drug twice. Michelle Jansen’s younger son’s girlfriend, 16-year-old Gwynn Staddon, overdosed on fentanyl and was found dead in a Starbucks washroom in Port Moody in August.
Staddon had been on a wait-list to get into rehab.
Clark has initially promised to open 500 extra beds for addicts in the province. The Ministry of Health says 300 new substance-use beds have been opened in the last three years, with more than 100 additional treatment beds scheduled to open this month. The remainder of the beds are on track to open by March 31.
-With files from Paula Baker, Jon Azpiri and the Canadian Press.
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