B.C. parents remember lost children on Overdose Awareness Day

Parents in B.C. are remembering children who lost their lives to unregulated, toxic drugs on International Overdose Awareness Day — and questioning why deaths are increasing despite government action.

At a gathering on Kitsilano Beach on Thursday, Debby Cleveland latched her son’s name onto a metal heart beside the names of numerous other people who have died from toxic, unregulated drugs. She says he died 15 years ago.

“If we put some of the resources into securing safe drug supplies that we put into fighting COVID, this epidemic would be under control,” she said.

“All these people have lost loved ones and it’s sad.”

Vicki Cartwright lost her son to toxic, unregulated drugs as well, and she says she doesn’t see anything helping the ongoing toxic drug crisis right now.

“The government needs to stand up,” she said.

“Listen to people that have had lived experience — listen to what’s helped and what’s failed and make new policies.”

“It’s wasteful and it shouldn’t be happening,” Cleveland added.

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The province declared a public health emergency over the overdose crisis in 2016, and since then 12,000 people have died from unregulated drugs.

It’s currently the leading cause of death in B.C.

Within the last three years, the government has expanded its prescribed safer supply program. It has put hundreds of millions of dollars into addiction treatment, and people are now legally allowed to carry have small amounts of drugs — still the deaths keep going up.

Read more:

• B.C. marks Overdose Awareness Day as toxic drug supply continues to kill

• Nearly 200 lives lost to B.C.’s unregulated toxic drug supply in July, coroner reports

• ‘We need to increase accessibility’: drug expert on why B.C.’s safer supply falls short

CityNews asked B.C.’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions if the government needs to change its approach, but she wouldn’t say exactly what is or is not working, or if things will change.

“It is not so much about any one thing that we’re doing that is not having a protective impact or making a contribution. It is about having to do all of the things that we need to do – in a context where we really need to be addressing stigma because we really need to be able to connect people to care,” Jennifer Whitesaid explained.

Data from the BC Coroners Services shows that 2022 was the province’s deadliest year on record, with 2,384 people killed by unregulated toxic drugs — and 2023 is on track to be even deadlier.

With the exception of 2019, the death rate has gone up every year for a decade.

The BC Coroners Service says, in July, 198 British Columbians died from drug poisoning — a four per cent increase from June. It says there’s no evidence safer supply has contributed to these deaths.

Unregulated drug toxicity is currently the leading cause of death in B.C.