VANCOUVER – The NHL’s Vancouver Canucks are helping launch a public awareness campaign to fight the stigma associated with substance abuse at a time when British Columbia is mired in an overdose crisis.
The provincial government’s campaign includes messages that will be broadcast on television, shown online, on social media and on billboards.
The campaign will be highlighted at Canucks home games and at other events at Rogers Arena, such as concerts, until June.
Judy Darcy, the minister of mental health and addictions, says the stigma surrounding addiction is leading to deaths in the province.
The public awareness campaign shows addiction can affect anyone and it asks people to stop seeing addiction as a “moral failure”
and instead as a health issue.
British Columbia declared a public health emergency in 2016 because of the overdose epidemic.