overdose crisis

Medical personnel wear personal protective equipment to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 as they wheel a patient into St. Paul’s hospital in downtown Vancouver Monday, November 23, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Refrigerated morgue truck deployed in Fraser Health: BC Coroners Service

B.C. is dealing with two public health crises

 

A Good Samaritan who intervened when a woman apparently overdosed in a car at Derby Reach park in Langley on Christmas Day would like to know if she survived. (Langley Advance Times file)

Good Samaritan wants to know if overdose victim survived

Christmas Day incident at Derby Reach park was an ‘eye-opening,’ rescuer says

 

FILE – A injection kit is seen inside the newly opened Fraser Health supervised consumption site is pictured in Surrey, B.C., Tuesday, June 6, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

‘We’ve been there before’: National phone line launches to prevent overdose deaths

The initiative comes at a time when overdose deaths are spiking

 

(File photo)

Vancouver police warn of toxic drug supply after 7 people overdose at one party

Seven people between the ages of 25 to 42 were taken to hospital for further treatment.

(File photo)
Olivia Dalton was found dead in her Langley City apartment by her father, John Butler after he couldn't reach her on the phone. (John Butler photo/Special to the Langley Advance Times)

Local man finds daughter dead in Langley from drug overdose

A father wants society and the justice system to do more to stop drug dealers who are killing people

Olivia Dalton was found dead in her Langley City apartment by her father, John Butler after he couldn't reach her on the phone. (John Butler photo/Special to the Langley Advance Times)
Langley nurse Sheila Henry crosses the bridge to New Westminster on Saturday, Oct. 11, en route to completing a 50K run from Langley City to Vancouver to raise awareness about the drug overdose crisis (Special to Langley Advance Times)

Tired but triumphant, determined Langley woman completes 50K run to raise awareness of drug overdose crisis

‘It was going to happen even if I have to walk’

Langley nurse Sheila Henry crosses the bridge to New Westminster on Saturday, Oct. 11, en route to completing a 50K run from Langley City to Vancouver to raise awareness about the drug overdose crisis (Special to Langley Advance Times)
Local nurse Sheila Henry, 41, is running 50-kilometres from Langley to Vancouver on World Mental Health Day (Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020) to raise awareness and funds to fight the overdose crisis in the province. (Sheila Henry/Special to Langley Advance Times)

Local mom to run 50km from Langley to Vancouver to combat overdose crisis

World Mental Health Day is Saturday, Oct. 10

Local nurse Sheila Henry, 41, is running 50-kilometres from Langley to Vancouver on World Mental Health Day (Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020) to raise awareness and funds to fight the overdose crisis in the province. (Sheila Henry/Special to Langley Advance Times)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to reporters during a news conference following a visit to the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Royalmount Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre facility in Montreal, Monday, Aug 31, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Trudeau makes rounds in B.C.; says safe drug supply key to fighting overdoses

Top doctors have called for increased access to a safe supply of illicit drugs to prevent deaths

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to reporters during a news conference following a visit to the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Royalmount Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre facility in Montreal, Monday, Aug 31, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Langley campaign posting purple flags for overdose awareness

Langley campaign posting purple flags for overdose awareness

Aug. 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day and kick off Friday evening

Langley campaign posting purple flags for overdose awareness
Langley teens’ art in video honours Overdose Awareness Day

Langley teens’ art in video honours Overdose Awareness Day

The local project is aimed at combatting the overdose crisis

  • Aug 28, 2020
Langley teens’ art in video honours Overdose Awareness Day
A fentanyl check in progress. One red line on top is a positive result for the presence of fentanyl or one of its analogs. Two red lines is a negative result. (Vancouver Coastal Health/special to the Langley Advance Times)

Toxic drug deaths on the rise in Langley

23 people have died so far this year locally

A fentanyl check in progress. One red line on top is a positive result for the presence of fentanyl or one of its analogs. Two red lines is a negative result. (Vancouver Coastal Health/special to the Langley Advance Times)
FILE – An organizer displays a naloxone kit that people can pick up for free as International Overdose Awareness Day training seminar takes place at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Fatal overdoses continue to spike in B.C. as July sees 175 illicit drug deaths

B.C. hits grim milestone of more than 900 deaths in first seven months of 2020

FILE – An organizer displays a naloxone kit that people can pick up for free as International Overdose Awareness Day training seminar takes place at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
A man injects drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. Canada needs a new approach to tackle its overdose crisis, says the lead author of a new study that highlights a prevalence of overdoses involving non-prescribed fentanyl and stimulants in British Columbia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

New study calls for new approach to tackling overdose crisis

There have been more than 15,000 apparent opioid-related deaths in Canada since 2016

A man injects drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019. Canada needs a new approach to tackle its overdose crisis, says the lead author of a new study that highlights a prevalence of overdoses involving non-prescribed fentanyl and stimulants in British Columbia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Needles are seen on the ground in Oppenheimer park in Vancouver’s downtown eastside on March 17, 2020. Indigenous and civil liberties groups say the British Columbia government failed to consult them before proposing legislation that would force youth under 19 to stay in hospital after an overdose. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Proposed B.C. legislation to detain youth who overdose could harm them: doctor

Minister Judy Darcy has said the proposed changes could help ensure the immediate safety of young people

Needles are seen on the ground in Oppenheimer park in Vancouver’s downtown eastside on March 17, 2020. Indigenous and civil liberties groups say the British Columbia government failed to consult them before proposing legislation that would force youth under 19 to stay in hospital after an overdose. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
FILE – Shannon McDonald, deputy chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority, and B.C Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe discuss ways to improve services to Indigenous youth at risk. (Black Press Media)

Isolation, drug toxicity lead to spike in First Nations overdose deaths amid pandemic: FNHA

Deaths increased by 93% between January and May

FILE – Shannon McDonald, deputy chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority, and B.C Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe discuss ways to improve services to Indigenous youth at risk. (Black Press Media)
On June 26, B.C. paramedics responded to the most number of overdoses ever recorded on a single day. (BC Emergency Health Services/Twitter)

B.C. paramedics respond to largest number of overdoses in a single day

131 overdoses recorded by BC Emergency Health Services on June 26

On June 26, B.C. paramedics responded to the most number of overdoses ever recorded on a single day. (BC Emergency Health Services/Twitter)
Michael Stone, a renowned teacher of yoga and Buddhism, died in 2017 of fentanyl poisoning. (Change.org)

Overdose deaths take time to report due to contributing factors, says Henry

Dr. Bonnie Henry responds to petition calling for overdose deaths to be announced

Michael Stone, a renowned teacher of yoga and Buddhism, died in 2017 of fentanyl poisoning. (Change.org)
Michael Stone, a renowned teacher of yoga and Buddhism, died in 2017 of fentanyl poisoning. (Change.org)

Wife of yogi who overdosed asks B.C.’s top doc to announce drug deaths like COVID fatalities

Carina Stone lost her husband Michael in 2017 to fentanyl poisoning

Michael Stone, a renowned teacher of yoga and Buddhism, died in 2017 of fentanyl poisoning. (Change.org)
Naloxone kits are used to try to save the lives of people who have suffered opioid overdoses. (Langley Advance Times files)

Langley sees spike in drug overdose deaths

Drug toxicity deaths are climbing sharply in B.C. again

Naloxone kits are used to try to save the lives of people who have suffered opioid overdoses. (Langley Advance Times files)
Norman Ayles, right, learned how to give a Naloxone injection to someone suffering from an opioid overdose, from Lookout Housing and Health Society staffer Levi Epp, left, at a 2019 overdose prevention event in Langley City. (Langley Advance Times files)

Drug deaths drop by half in Langley

The total number of lethal overdoses remains higher than before the crisis began

Norman Ayles, right, learned how to give a Naloxone injection to someone suffering from an opioid overdose, from Lookout Housing and Health Society staffer Levi Epp, left, at a 2019 overdose prevention event in Langley City. (Langley Advance Times files)