Toxic Drugs

• Drug alert issued for medetomidine in Saskatoon

  Saskatchewan's Ministry of Health has released another drug alert regarding medetomidine, a veterinary sedative not reactive to naloxone and increasingly found in opioids.

  Canada

  Jan 30
  
• Saskatoon’s epidemic of toxic drug overdoses tops 2,100 for 2025

  As fatalities drop due to training and awareness around naloxone, new drugs cut with sedatives like benzos are making it less effective.

  Nov 13, 2025
  
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• Toxic drug deaths down in May and June, BC Coroners Service reports

  The number of deaths due to toxic drugs fell to below 150 people per month for May and June in British Columbia, a downward trend from the same months last year. 

  Jul 31, 2025
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• After months of decline, B.C. drug deaths tick up in April

  British Columbia's coroners service says a rebound in overdoses in April saw a return to more than 160 deaths a month due to toxic drugs. 

  Health

  Jun 24, 2025
• ‘He came back and saved people’: Downtown Eastside grieves advocate’s sudden death

  In a moving tribute Saturday, community members from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside turned out to celebrate the life of Trey Helten, who died suddenly last month at age 42.

  Health

  May 11, 2025
• 911 call played at inquest into B.C. university student’s drug death

  Sidney McIntyre-Starko died of fentanyl poisoning in January 2024 after she and a friendconsumed drugs found in a box of coolers a friend found on a street corner.

  Health

  Apr 29, 2025
• Study linking B.C. drug policies to overdose hospitalizations questioned

  British Columbia's former chief coroner says a new study linking safer supply and decriminalization to a rise in opioid overdose hospitalizations doesn't provide the full picture.

  Health

  Mar 26, 2025
• Study associates decriminalization with overdoses

  A study into safer supply and drug decriminalization policies in British Columbia has found that both were associated with increased opioid overdose hospitalizations.

  Mar 25, 2025
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• BC Conservative MLA says drugs took ‘unsurmountable’ toll on her family

  A BC Conservative MLA has described the "unsurmountable" price paid by her family in the province's toxic drug crisis, which she said had claimed the lives of two of her brothers.

  Politics

  Feb 20, 2025
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• Doctors stage another overdose prevention site pop-up at Victoria hospital

  Tuesday's event outside Royal Jubilee Hospital was the latest in a string of actions Doctors for Safer Drug Policy have staged on Vancouver Island since November.

  Politics

  Feb 18, 2025