Karen Ward says she foresaw the troubling trajectory of B.C.'s overdose crisis well in advance.
“I said in May that over 2,000 people would die if they did nothing,” Ward said. “And they did nothing.”
On Wednesday, when the province’s chief coroner announced a record-breaking 2,224 people died last year of drug toxicity, Ward’s accurate prediction didn’t make the news hurt any less.
“This is terrible,” she said.
Ward, a drug policy advisor for the City of Vancouver, says while there are many policies that need to change, safe supply needs to be the top priority.
"The entire illicit market is just a mess, it's like a toxic soup," said Ward.
Troubling statistics provided by Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson Wednesday back that claim up.
Malcolmson said the concentration of fentanyl detected by the coroner in illicit drug deaths at the end 2021 was between 24 and 28 per cent.
That’s a drastic rise from the 4 to 8 per cent that was detected pre-pandemic.
The province says it’s also seen a drastic rise in benzodiazepines, which overdose-reversing drugs like naloxone can’t counteract.
“We haven’t recognized how bad it will get,” said Ward.
Last year, the federal government provided $15 million to fund safe-drug-supply projects in Victoria and Vancouver.
Ward says it’s time for the B.C government to provide funding of its own.
“We’re not even trying,” she said.
FAMILIES LIVING IN FEAR
As this crisis grows worse, families of the thousands of people currently suffering from substance abuse issues across the province are plagued with constant anxiety.
“Every day, we await the call,” said Correne Antrobus.
She says her daughter began having addiction issues at the age of 20. Now, 13 years later, she says getting the proper help is still extremely difficult.
"Nothing really has changed,” Antrobus said. "To get into detox right now, there's a 175-person wait, which is months and months."
Antrobus is also the B.C. co-ordinator for Holding Hope, a support group for families of living drug users.
She feels groups like this have helped erase some of the stigma surrounding those struggling with substance issues.
“People can see that we’re just normal moms and dads and that we have other children that are doing fine,” she said. “This can happen to anyone.”
THE FORGOTTEN CRISIS
With B.C. battling both the COVID-19 pandemic as well as several extreme weather events in 2021, other advocates feel the overdose crisis was wrongly swept under the rug.
"If this were anything else where seven people were dying every day, I can tell you right now we'd plug all the resources in to stop that," said Guy Felicella, clinical advisor for Vancouver Coastal Health who has openly talked about his own battles with addiction.
“It’d be nice to hear about it more than when the overdose report comes out every month,” he said. “It needs to be constantly brought up.”
Malcolmson says the province is all-in on fighting this crisis.
"Were making historic investments in mental health and addictions supports across the full spectrum of treatment,’’ the minister said. “British Columbia is attacking this crisis from all angles.”
