BC Opioid Crisis

• Opioid crisis: $150M settlement reached in B.C.-led lawsuit to recoup health-care costs

  The Canadian arm of Purdue Pharma has agreed to a settlement in B.C.'s 2018 proposed class-action lawsuit against more than 40 opioid manufacturers and distributors.

  Health

  Jun 29, 2022
  
• ‘We don’t understand it’: Advocates slam Vancouver police raid of low-barrier cannabis program

  The low-barrier Cannabis Substitution Program had been selling high-dose edibles as a safer alternative to opioids out of an RV downtown for the last year and a half.

  Health

  May 18, 2022
  
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• Mothers advocacy group talks opioid crisis at Kelowna high school

  Moms Stop the Harm was at Okanagan Mission Secondary, talking to senior students, warning them about the dangers of doing drugs in 2022.

  Canada

  May 4, 2022
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• B.C. sees decrease in overdose deaths in March, but drug users face risks: coroner

  British Columbia's chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says the latest overdose figures show 165 people died in March, down from 174 in February and 209 in January.

  Health

  May 3, 2022
• B.C. scraps controversial plan to involuntarily treat youth after overdose

  Critics said a lack of support outside a hospital could put youth at greater risk of overdose as their tolerance to toxic street drugs would be lowered during treatment.

  Health

  Apr 29, 2022
• Health Canada mulling B.C.’s drug decriminalization request but with lower threshold: minister

  B.C.'s request calls for a person to be allowed to carry up to 4.5 grams of illicit drugs, but the federal government is allegedly mulling a 2.5-gram cumulative threshold.

  Health

  Apr 6, 2022
• ‘Mostly ineffective’: B.C.’s safe supply program not meeting the need, say advocates

  According to B.C.'s minister of mental health and addictions, 12,000 people have been prescribed safe drugs in the two years since the province launched its program.

  Health

  Mar 2, 2022
• Kelowna, Kamloops see rise in illicit drug deaths: Report

  In 2021, Kelowna had 73 deaths – up from 61 in 2020 and 34 from 2019. A decade ago, in 2011, Kelowna had 14 deaths.

  Canada

  Feb 9, 2022
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• More people died from illicit toxic drugs in 2021 in B.C. than in any other year

  The average number of deaths per day in 2021 was 6.1, but chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said the number climbed to about seven each day in the last two months of the year.

  Health

  Feb 9, 2022
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• ‘Absolutely devastating’: Recovering user reflects on B.C.’s worst year of the opioid crisis

  The BC Coroners Service reported 201 suspected deaths from illicit drug toxicity in October — the province’s deadliest month on record.

  Health

  Dec 10, 2021