Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

OVERDOSE AWARENESS DAY

BC’s chief coroner, Addiction Matters Kamloops call for drug policy changes, coordinated response to overdose crisis

Aug 31, 2021 | 3:47 PM

KAMLOOPS — The ongoing overdose crisis in B.C was declared a public health emergency in 2016, yet five years later B.C’s chief coroner says the province still doesn’t have all hands on deck. In an update Tuesday (Aug. 31), the Coroners Service says between January and June of 2021, 1,011 people died of a suspected illicit drug overdose.

“For the coroners and paramedics — we know what 1,000 people who have died looks like, and it’s just astounding,” noted Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe, “and the fact that we haven’t seen a coordinated response in a very big way to reduce these deaths — it’s sad. It’s heartbreaking.”

Lapointe says reducing stigma around people who use substances has been a challenge, and there also needs to be a healthcare shift to treat people with a substance use disorder. Lapointe says there has been small steps taken but currently there is no standard of care that has been determined.

“I think we need a significant shift in how we, our politicians, our local governments look at those who use substances and recognize them as people worthy of medical support,” she says. “And people worthy of the same medical assistance and services that anybody suffering from a medical condition in our province is worthy of.”

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Pilot projects to have medical professional prescribe safe supply are currently operating on a small scale within British Columbia. Addiction Matters Kamloops is one of many groups advocating for widespread implementation and co-chair Sandra Tully says it is just one part of the response needed to address the crisis.

“That is a great first small step. But helping 200 people in Vancouver or Victoria doesn’t help anyone living in the Interior,” notes co-chair Sandra Tully. “There needs to be an expansion, there needs to be something in every health authority.”

August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day and, locally, Tully and other members of Addiction Matters Kamloops spent the afternoon setting up for a presentation and vigil to remember the friends, family and community members who have been lost to overdose.

“We have to keep this out in the open, we have to keep talking about the crisis, we have to keep it in the forefront of everyone’s mind or nothing will get done,” reiterates Tully. “It’s easy to ignore something that no one talks about.”

The event begins at 5:00 p.m. from McDonald Park and includes a poem reading, an elder prayer, drumming, information on community supports and naloxone training. Organizers have also planned to live stream the provincial event from Moms Stop the Harm in Victoria at 6:30 p.m.

According to latest data from the B.C. Coroners Service, drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in B.C. for people aged 19 to 39. Families who have lost a loved one to those circumstances want provincial and federal governments to make immediate changes around drug policy and treatment availability.

While the COVID-19 pandemic and opioid crisis are different circumstances, Tully notes that the COVID-19 situation has served as an example of how a coordinated effort between ministries can bring faster results.

“This is another health crisis happening. It’s not just an ‘us or them’, this is a health crisis and the same sort of response that they rolled out for COVID needs to happen for this crisis as well.”