Opinion: Despite B.C.’s many firsts, Alberta has a far lower death rate after prioritizing treatment
In 2022 — the seventh year of a public health emergency — the number of British Columbians who died due to the toxic supply of street drugs was the second highest on record, at least 2,272.
Among the dead were at least 65 children.
2021 was worse, with a record 2,306 deaths.
Over the years, the demographic has remained unchanged. They’re mostly men, mostly aged 30 to 59. Mostly, they die at home. No one calls for help. No help arrives then nor earlier, when some form of intervention might have set them on a different path.
The single deadly thread that runs through it all is seemingly ever higher concentrations of fentanyl regardless of what drug the user intended to buy.
That there has been no mitigation in the misery, despair, grief and suffering is an appalling indictment, particularly since the government has spent more than $1 billion in new services and resources since the health emergency was declared in 2016.
But an indictment of whom?
The B.C. government was lashed by Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe during the news conference where the numbers were released. She and others blamed British Columbians for stigmatizing drug users and not caring enough to help.
Yet for more than a decade, the advice the government has received from Lapointe, the provincial health officer, the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, the city of Vancouver and others has focused heavily on stopping people from dying.
