Moms Stop the Harm was at Okanagan Mission Secondary, talking to senior students on Wednesday, warning them about the dangers of doing drugs.
Helen Jennens, leadership member of the local advocacy group, said, “We want to have (more) conversations with kids in schools about, ‘what do you know about the opioid crisis? What do you know about the toxic drugs on the street?’
“We want to bring awareness to all these families, so, maybe, we can stop some of these deaths from happening.”
The group held an hour-long workshop in Megan Faust’s psychology class. They say it’s important to talk to the students before their graduation parties and, ultimately, before they leave high school.
“I think it’s extremely important to talk about these issues, especially for Grade 12 students, who are heading off into the world and graduation events,” said Faust. “It’s important for them to understand what’s happening out there in the world.”
Part of the workshop was the presentation of a music video done by Moms Stop the Harm.
The video shows many lost family members — sons of mothers in the advocacy group who have died from drug toxicity.
Global News talked with one of the students today about the presentation. He said hearing about the moms’ personal losses was quite the shock.
“That really tugged on the heart strings for me, because sometimes people depersonalize this issue as it’s the opioid crisis, it’s the people living downtown in tents,” said Seamus Carson, a Okanagan Mission student. “But, to see it’s actual. people, like sons of mothers (in the community). It’s eye opening.”
The workshop was hosted on the heels of the province’s latest release of information regarding overdoses and drug toxicity statistics for March 2022.
The number of people who died from the Okanagan’s toxic drug supply has continued to climb.
Figures released from the B.C. Coroner’s Service shows that from January until the end of March of this year, there were 41 overdose deaths in the Okanagan.
Broken down further, Kelowna accounts for 17 of those recorded deaths, and Penticton 10. Encouragingly, however, there’s been some improvement from previous months. Looking at March alone, the Okanagan death toll was 11, which shows a decline since the beginning of 2022.
In February there were 17 deaths, and in January there were 13. Despite declines, the number of deaths to date puts the city on a trajectory for a particularly deadly year.
In 2021, there were 172 illicit drug toxicity deaths in the Okanagan, making it the region’s deadliest year to date. In contrast, there were only 16 drug toxicity deaths throughout the valley in 2012.
The month over month decline in overdose deaths in the Okanagan mirrors the provincial picture. Lisa Lapointe says the latest overdose figures show 165 people died in March, down from 174 in February and 209 in January.
Moms Stop the Harm has planned a conference in New Westminster during the first week of June. It will be a place where stakeholders and people affected by the opioid crisis will convene and discuss issues.