BC Sees More than 1700 Lives Lost in 2020 due to Toxic Illicit Drugs
2021 marks the fifth year in a row that the provincial government has declared a public health emergency due to illicit drug toxicity. The BC Coroners Service reports that 2020 was the province’s worst year in terms of deaths due to toxic drugs. In 2020, there were 1716 toxic drug-related deaths, which equates to about … Continued
Small Deaths
“More than 1,420 people died of illicit-drug overdoses in BC in 2017, the ‘most tragic year ever.’” – CBC News Death is an ant under your shoe, the unwatered spider plant, a grain of fentanyl thinner than a needle of Douglas fir. * I search the rainforest for names of the dead. Unlike the newspaper, … Continued
How to talk about substance use
According to BC Coroners Service, 1,449 people died from illicit-substance overdoses in British Columbia in 2017. Compare that to the average of 206 people per year from 2000 to 2010. Despite the province announcing a public health emergency in response, stigma regarding substance use remains at an all-time high. Here are two Facebook comments on … Continued