opioid crisis

Chris Lamoureux, who has struggled with substance abuse and robbed two banks in September 2019, is hoping to end the stigma of drug addiction. (Chris Bush/Black Press)

B.C. man who struggled with substance use, crime seeks to end drug addiction stigma

Chris Lamoureux about to begin studying to be peer support worker

 

NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson speaks with the media about her private members bill regarding abandoned vessels, in Ottawa on Thursday, November 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

MALCOLMSON: B.C. expects feds to ‘make our application a priority’ on drug decriminalization

B.C. is the first province to offer a safer supply program

  • Nov 29, 2021

 

(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

EDITORIAL: B.C.’s prescription to end opioid epidemic

As the casualties continue to mount, B.C. is calling on Ottawa to…

  • Nov 20, 2021

 

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Carolyn Bennett at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Minister Bennett says national opioid crisis plan to be informed by proposals in B.C.

‘We have an obligation to listen to the people who are actually doing this work, and then respond’

Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Carolyn Bennett at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, speaks about drug use during a recent speech in the legislature. (Government of British Columbia)

Vancouver Island MLA calls for an end to ‘war on drugs’ approach

Saanich North and the Islands MLA Adam Olsen plans to continue lobbying for a safe drug supply

Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands, speaks about drug use during a recent speech in the legislature. (Government of British Columbia)
Paramedics respond to a call as Vancouver city councillor Jean Swanson attends a march to remember those who died during the overdose crisis and to call for a safe supply of illicit drugs on International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. applies to decriminalize personal possession of illicit drugs amid opioid crisis

Since 2016, the province has lost 7,700 people to toxic drug poisonings

Paramedics respond to a call as Vancouver city councillor Jean Swanson attends a march to remember those who died during the overdose crisis and to call for a safe supply of illicit drugs on International Overdose Awareness Day, in Vancouver, on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Discovery Coffee is one of five Greater Victoria businesses to join EACH+EVERY. (Tegwyn Hughes/News Staff)

‘Naloxone on site’: Victoria businesses doing their part for harm reduction

EACH+EVERY pledge sees overdose training for Greater Victoria workers

Discovery Coffee is one of five Greater Victoria businesses to join EACH+EVERY. (Tegwyn Hughes/News Staff)
Saanich council welcomed a presentation from Island Health about the opioid crisis and how it looks in Saanich on Oct. 4. (Black Press Media file photo)

Opioid deaths occurring in Saanich homes a result of stigma, says expert

83 per cent of illicit drug toxicity deaths occurred in private homes in 2019

Saanich council welcomed a presentation from Island Health about the opioid crisis and how it looks in Saanich on Oct. 4. (Black Press Media file photo)
Naloxone. (File)

184 people died of illicit drug overdoses in July in B.C.’s 2nd deadliest month on record

July has brought the death toll for the year to 1,204 deaths

Naloxone. (File)
This photo shows a Narcan nasal device. (AP File Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Province responds after Oak Bay police sound alarm over lack of naloxone funding

Greater Victoria police reach end of provincially funded supply amid opioid pandemic

This photo shows a Narcan nasal device. (AP File Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Police departments no longer receive funding for naloxone kits. (Courtesy Oak Bay Police Department)

UPDATE: Long-term funding missing for police naloxone kits amid B.C. opioid pandemic

Province commits to eliminate funding gaps; Greater Victoria departments worry for current situation

Police departments no longer receive funding for naloxone kits. (Courtesy Oak Bay Police Department)
A woman walks past a person using a glass pipe to smoke drugs in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Drug users group files decriminalization lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court

Health Canada spokesman Mark Johnson said that Justice Canada is reviewing the claim

A woman walks past a person using a glass pipe to smoke drugs in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Saanich Mayor Fred Haynes advocates for Opioid Awareness Day along with fellow Saanich council members, who will all receive Naloxone training online on Aug. 31. (Megan Atkins-Baker/News Staff)

Saanich council receiving lifesaving training on Overdose Awareness Day

Public training more critical given opioid overdose epidemic, mayor says

Saanich Mayor Fred Haynes advocates for Opioid Awareness Day along with fellow Saanich council members, who will all receive Naloxone training online on Aug. 31. (Megan Atkins-Baker/News Staff)
Moms Stop the Harm have tied ribbons around lamp posts with pictures of loved ones who have died from drug overdoses. The ribbons are both a memorial and call for action. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)

Greater Victoria organizations mark International Overdose Awareness Day

Tuesday, Aug. 31 sees free barbecue, candlelight vigil; groups re-issue calls for action

Moms Stop the Harm have tied ribbons around lamp posts with pictures of loved ones who have died from drug overdoses. The ribbons are both a memorial and call for action. (Zoe Ducklow/News Staff)
Vancouver Island University developed technology, HarmCheck utilizes a technology known as high-throughput paper spray mass spectrometry to provide rapid and accurate drug testing. (Vancouver Island University photo)

New device that tests drugs in minutes boosted by province amid B.C.’s overdose crisis

HarmCheck can provide accurate results in one to two minutes using only a small sample size

Vancouver Island University developed technology, HarmCheck utilizes a technology known as high-throughput paper spray mass spectrometry to provide rapid and accurate drug testing. (Vancouver Island University photo)
FILE – A woman holds up a sign bearing a photograph of Morgan Goodridge during a memorial march to remember victims of overdose deaths in Vancouver on Saturday, August 15, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

B.C. becomes 1st in Canada to launch province-wide prescribed safe drug supply access

Program to include prescription fentanyl patches, as well as injectable and tablet forms of hydromorphone

FILE – A woman holds up a sign bearing a photograph of Morgan Goodridge during a memorial march to remember victims of overdose deaths in Vancouver on Saturday, August 15, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
Work underway at the Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project. (Photo by Jay Wallace)

Greater Victoria drug checking increases alongside overdose deaths

Service for people using drugs provides support in the absence of a safe supply

Work underway at the Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project. (Photo by Jay Wallace)
This photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. Canada’s public health agency says the COVID-19 pandemic drove an increasingly deadly overdose crisis last year that continues to take lives and corrode communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah via AP

Seventeen Canadians per day died from opioids in 2020: Public Health Agency of Canada

At least 21,174 people have died from apparent opioid toxicity between 2016 and 2020

This photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah and introduced as evidence in a 2019 trial shows fentanyl-laced fake oxycodone pills collected during an investigation. Canada’s public health agency says the COVID-19 pandemic drove an increasingly deadly overdose crisis last year that continues to take lives and corrode communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-U.S. Attorneys Office for Utah via AP
Drug injection supplies are pictured inside the newly opened Fraser Health supervised consumption site in Surrey, B.C. Tuesday, June 6, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. marks 14th month of 100+ deaths as 176 people fatally overdose in April

At least 176 people fatally overdosed, or roughly 11 deaths every two days

Drug injection supplies are pictured inside the newly opened Fraser Health supervised consumption site in Surrey, B.C. Tuesday, June 6, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Jodi Higgs (right) holds a vial of naloxone and Christine Christensen holds a kit in the parking lot of the Pacific Community Resources Society in Chilliwack on Thursday, May 20, 2021. The society is offering a number of upcoming events, workshops and videos to help educate friends and family members who have loved ones that are drug users. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)

Educating family, friends key to helping ‘hidden’ population of substance users

Naloxone training one of many ways to help folks closest to unseen population of opioid users

Jodi Higgs (right) holds a vial of naloxone and Christine Christensen holds a kit in the parking lot of the Pacific Community Resources Society in Chilliwack on Thursday, May 20, 2021. The society is offering a number of upcoming events, workshops and videos to help educate friends and family members who have loved ones that are drug users. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)