More than 2,270 purple flags adorned a Richmond, B.C., lawn Friday, one for each of the lives lost to the overdose crisis in British Columbia last year.
The province observed a grim anniversary — the 7th year of its public health emergency, triggered on April 14, 2016, after overdose deaths reached 474 in 2015.
Since then, more than 11,000 lives have been lost to overdose and the toxic drug supply.
“These people had families and friends that loved them and they did not deserve to die, even if they used drugs and were suffering with addiction or mental health problems,” said Moms Stop the Harm member Debbie Tablotney at the event.
“There are many moms and families here today that have suffered the same tragic loss that we have. This is not a crisis that is only felt on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.”
Tablotney’s son Curtis was 36 years old when he died from an overdose in December last year. It was his seventh overdose in 2022.
His father Andrew told Global News the toll on families and communities is incalculable. He and Tablotney said the “system failed” their son.
“Every day you’re wondering whether or not you’re going to walk into his bedroom (and find him) face up, not even breathing,” Andrew explained.
“I call it the thousand-dollar hour. You know every time he has an overdose, there’s two ambulances, a fire truck and a police car show up … resources that can be spent somewhere else.”
The province set records in March for the most overdose calls in one day, the highest 30-day average of overdose calls and the most consecutive days where paramedics attended 100 or more poisonings. It’s also on pace to set a new record for poisoning calls in a year and match its annual record for the most naloxone doses administered to reverse the effects of opioids.
According to B.C. Emergency Health Services, paramedics are averaging 3,000 overdose calls per month, up from 2,800 the previous year. Since the start of the public health emergency, they have responded to nearly 200,000 overdose calls.
Paramedics went from responding to roughly 14,000 overdose calls in 2016 to more than 33,000 in 2022, said Andy Watson, communications manager for BCEHS.
“We’ve heard from partners about the toxic drug supply. We’ve heard from partners about how there’s new things like xylazine on the market,” he said at a naloxone administration and overdose response training event on Friday.
“We need to continue to look at ways to try and help support people who use drugs, who may come across toxic supply to be able to do so safely. Ultimately, this is about improving lives for people who use drugs and making sure they have all the support that they need.”
Debbie and Andrew Tablotney and others at the Richmond memorial called for more comprehensive mental health and addictions services, and a clearer, centralized hub of information for those seeking help.
Although he noted valid privacy concerns, Andrew also expressed frustration with the lack of communication between the services accessed by drug-using adult patients, and the families who care for them.
“We need to be able to talk to doctors,” he insisted. “At my son’s funeral, I had numerous people come up and talk to us about their children passing, and the biggest complaint was that nobody would talk to them. We couldn’t get any information.”
Steveston-Richmond East MP Parm Bains said he doesn’t know many families that the overdose crisis hasn’t touched, and the federal government “will continue to chip away” at the “long-term fight.”
“As a government, we want to make sure those resources, supports and services are there,” he said.
“It starts with the conversations, the health services that are required around this, and we’re committed to working on that.”
The provincial government’s 2023 budget promised $1 billion in mental health and addiction investments that will, in part, scale up detox, treatment and recovery services throughout the province.
“When we talk about harm reduction, it’s incredibly important that we talk about reducing the stigma, so people can reach out to each other and get the help they need,” said Kelly Greene, Richmond-Steveston MLA.
“Part of government is ensuring those services are there to support the families, friends and people affected when they’re ready for help. My ask for everybody is to be kind to each other, you don’t know what people are going through.”
— with files from The Canadian Press