Funeral chain creates program to underscore the dangers of fentanyl
LANGLEY, B.C. — A funeral services chain in British Columbia is developing a program it hopes will cut the number of drug deaths related to fentanyl among children and young adults.
Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Services has created a fentanyl prevention program after a funeral home in the chain reported serving four to five families every month who had lost a loved one to an overdose in Metro Vancouver.
The owner of the chain, Tyrel Burton, says the company felt it could no longer tolerate those numbers and unlike other programs focusing on harm reduction, it decided to aim at prevention through the use of visual aids that it describes as “powerful, perhaps even controversial.”
The program includes a poster of grieving family members surrounding a coffin, under a banner reading “Will fentanyl be the reason for your next family get-together?”