B.C. overdose inquest recommends better access to addictions treatment
BURNABY, B.C. — Jurors at a coroner’s inquest into the fatal overdose of a 20-year-old man in British Columbia have recommended the province improves treatment options for people struggling with addiction, including access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin.
Brandon Jansen was at a Vancouver Island treatment centre for an addiction to fentanyl when he died in March, a month before the province declared a public health emergency into opioid-related deaths.
He was among 914 people in British Columbia who died from a drug overdose in 2016.
The BC Coroners Service said before the inquest that the process would be an avenue to explore some of the issues arising from the deaths.