Ending Eviction Moratoriums Means More Drug Users Will Die

published on August 4, 2021 by Manisha Krishnan in VICE

Just before Guy Felicella overdosed for the first time, his dealer warned him to take a lower dose than usual.

It was 2013 and fentanyl was beginning to crop up more in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, ground zero for Canada’s overdose crisis.

“He just told me it’s a really strong batch of dope and he said you can’t do it the way you do dope,” said Felicella, who had been using heroin for decades at the time.

Felicella didn’t heed his dealer’s warning and he was hospitalized due to an overdose. Afterwards, he went back to his dealer’s place.

“I said, ‘What the hell, I OD’d,” said Felicella, now sober and a peer clinical advisor with public health authority Vancouver Coastal Health. “He said ‘Listen, it’s fentanyl… I told you you cannot use that amount that you used and you didn’t listen.’” …

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