The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
207 lives lost to illicit toxic drugs in B.C. in first month of 2022: coroner
March 11, 2022 | CBC News
British Columbia’s horrifying illicit drug overdose crisis continues to claim several lives every day, with the latest statistics from the B.C. Coroners Service showing 207 people died in January due to toxic substances. The numbers, released Friday, reflect the third highest number of deaths...
Scrap thresholds in requests to decriminalize simple drug possession: Canadian coalition
March 10, 2022 | Vancouver Sun
More than 20 advocacy organizations are urging the federal minister of mental health and addictions to not require quantity limits from jurisdictions requesting to decriminalize simple drug possession. Legal and health organizations have asked Carolyn Bennett to waive the need for jurisdictions to s...
Panel calls for urgent action on safer drug supply in B.C. to prevent overdoses
March 09, 2022 | Winnipeg Free Press
VICTORIA – A report into an investigation of 6,007 overdose deaths in British Columbia calls on the province to urgently develop a policy to distribute a safer supply of drugs and offer better health supports with a plan that would see action taken over 30, 60 and 90 days. The death review pan...
Experts Reject BC’s Safe Supply Claims
March 03, 2022 | The Tyee
Seventeen months after the B.C. government committed to expanding safe supply, only about 500 people are able to access real replacements for increasingly poisoned drugs. In February, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson said 12,000 people had been prescribed what she has calle...
Opinion: Why the drug supply is still killing people in B.C.
March 01, 2022 | Vancouver Is Awesome
Last year was the deadliest year ever for illicit drug overdoses in B.C. and, as we’ll likely soon learn when official data is released, for all of Canada. In 2021, nearly seven British Columbians died every day from using illicit drugs. In Canada, the number is almost 20 each day. More people ar...
