The Globe and Mail Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account
Getting audio file . This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy. Full Disclaimer
Annie Storey, centre, holds a cross with a photo of her late son Alex Storey, before a march to mark the five-year anniversary of British Columbia declaring a public health emergency in the overdose crisis, in Vancouver, on April 14, 2021.
DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
As people took turns speaking into a microphone from the back of a flatbed truck, Annie Storey looked on, clutching a white cross bearing a photo of her son, Alex.
7,000 more overdose deaths since B C declared public health emergency in 2016 - Canada News castanet.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from castanet.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Save to Read Later
Calls for bold, courageous and compassionate actions were made Wednesday by top health officials and advocates as British Columbia marked the fifth anniversary of its deadly overdose crisis.
Heartfelt messages are left on a table as people come out to mark International Overdose Awareness Day during a mass group naloxone training seminar at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019. nbsp;When British Columbia s provincial health officer declared an emergency into the overdose crisis five years ago, he said it was because those who died deserved more of a response. Since then, Dr. Perry Kendall says roughly 7,000 died unnecessarily. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
Renewed calls for action on 5th anniversary of B C overdose emergency vancouversun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vancouversun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The act also calls on the minister of health to establish a federal safe supply strategy to make regulated pharmaceutical alternatives to street drugs more widely available, in order to reduce people’s dependence on the poisoned illicit drug supply.
More than 20,000 people have died of poisoned drug overdoses in Canada since January 2016. And 2020, B.C.’s most deadly year on record, also saw a near doubling in deaths between April and September nationwide compared to the year before.
But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly rejected decriminalization because it is not a “silver bullet” solution and has favoured a focus on safe supply efforts.