The latest news articles featuring BC Centre on Substance Use.
Harm reduction and the overdose crisis in BC
March 18, 2022 | The Peak
For the past two years, BC has been plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in thousands of deaths. However, there are numbers we don’t see often: those of overdose-related deaths. In a faculty lecture hosted by SFU Public Square, Harm Reduction in an Unprecedented Overdose Crisis, Dr...
Why is Canada’s illicit drug supply so deadly and what’s being done about it?
March 18, 2022 | CBC News
Canada’s overdose crisis has worsened during the pandemic, with the number of people dying from illicit drugs soaring to new heights in many provinces. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says 2020 was the deadliest year for overdose deaths since it started recording the numbers in 2016...
Canada’s opioid crisis: How families of overdose victims are coping
March 14, 2022 | CTV News
Mary Breen spoke about her daughter, Sophie’s overdose death in a moving and honest obituary a few days after her passing on March 4, 2020, in Guelph, Ont. Sophie was deeply loved by those she left behind and despite all the mental and physical pain she faced, she was resilient and did everything...
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...
