‘People should be valued’: B.C. on pace for deadliest year in drug crisis

British Columbia is on track for the deadliest year yet of its unregulated toxic drug crisis, with another 198 lives lost last month.

At least 1,455 deaths were reported in the first seven months of 2023, the most ever recorded, according to a Tuesday report from the BC Coroners Service.

“We’re not taking this overdose crisis seriously enough,” said Brittany Graham, executive director of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.

“We’re losing a lot of people from a lot of different walks of life, and many from industries that we depend on … all those people should be valued for their life and right now, we’re sort of letting them leave without very much care.”

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Unregulated drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in B.C. for people between the ages of 10 and 59, surpassing murders, suicides, natural diseases and accidents.

Graham said that’s evidence the crisis doesn’t only affect “a specific type of drug user,” and requires a community approach rather than an “othering” one. Anyone who has benefitted from a prescribed pain killer is part of the community, she added.

“You might not use drugs on daily basis but you have benefitted from safe regulation of substances and being able to access that for a variety of your medical needs,” she said.

“I think we need to be thinking about those communities and how they are not standing up, they’re not thinking about how they are a part of this.”

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In a Tuesday statement, the province’s chief coroner said that despite recommendations for the “urgent expansion” of safe supply programs, very few British Columbians have access to stable, lower-risk substances.

“We must urge decision-makers to do more to stop these preventable deaths from occurring,” Lisa Lapointe wrote.

“We must not accept the continued loss of six lives each and every day.”

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According to the report, 56 per cent of deaths this year occurred in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health authorities, but Northern Health continues to have the highest per-capita toxic-drug death rate at 59.8 per 100,000 residents.

The data also shows that 47 per cent of unregulated drug deaths occurred in private residences, while a third took place in other indoor spaces, such as social and supportive housing units, SROs, shelters, and hotels.

Nineteen per cent took place outdoors — in vehicles, on the streets, in parks, and more.

Global News has reached out to Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside for comment.

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Graham, meanwhile, said conversations about drug policy change and the toxic drug crisis can’t be separated from conversations about homelessness and affordable housing.

“Many people who you know and I know are living paycheque to paycheque … at some point the system isn’t going to protect those people,” she said.

“Then they’re going to be in a similar situation as a lot of people in this neighbourhood (Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside).”

The system is slanted to punish people who are poor and use drugs, she added, or people who are homeless and use drugs — without the privilege of using them in private homes.

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In her own Tuesday statement, Whiteside vowed to “work relentlessly” to combat the toxic drug crisis by continuing to building an “integrated system of care” that includes more substance-use beds, access to prescribed safer supply, and counselling.

“All communities and sectors in our province face the challenges of the toxic-drug crisis, each requiring a unique response,” Whiteside wrote.

“Today, I am holding a roundtable on mental health and substance use in the trades, where labour, industry, health and government are engaging in critical conversations to better understand the needs of people in these sectors and tailor resources to those in physically demanding jobs like construction.”

In its 2023 budget, the province committed $1 billion to addressing the crisis over the next three years. The province points to new investments in addictions beds and recovery care, an expanded scope of practice for nurses, and the expansion of s24/7 substance-use and mental health supports as examples of its action.

Graham called for supports that are more catered to the actual needs of people who use drugs, such as wider access to safe supply and safe consumption sites, and a decriminalization policy that reflects the way people who use drugs actually purchase the substances.

In rural areas especially, she said, people are more likely to buy drugs in bulk — similar to the way one does a grocery run — but that exceeds the possession for personal use limit of 2.5 grams or less.

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