News — Overdose

With overdose deaths rising across Canada, advocates for drug users are calling for the implementation of a national safe supply program as part of an effort to save lives. Failing to do so, they say, will lead to more deaths from overdoses across the country. A public health emergency was declared in 2016, a year that saw 991 deaths. More than 1,500 people have died in British Columbia from illicit drug overdoses in 2020. Ontario’s chief coroner’s office estimates 50 to 80 people per week are dying of overdoses. British Columbia’s government created a safe supply program in March, allowing...