Stories from people who have lost loved ones to opioids
VANCOUVER — A gradual surge in lethal opioid overdoses shows no sign of slowing, and some experts say the worst is yet to come unless governments do more to counteract the deadly crisis.
The incursion of fentanyl into Canada’s supply of street drugs, combined with decades of liberal opioid prescribing practices and entrenched stigmas around addiction, has brought about what some describe as one of the worst drug-safety crises in Canadian history.
Hundreds have died this year, though the true scope of the problem remains unknown because of the absence of a standardized system to track overdoses countrywide.
Dr. Perry Kendall, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, said the move in some province’s to increase opioid-substitution treatment as well as additional harm-reduction measures are steps in the right direction.