Advocates share fear of worsening overdose crisis in 2021, want national safe supply - Medicine Hat NewsMedicine Hat News medicinehatnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medicinehatnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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.
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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 doctors and nurses to prescribe pharmaceutical alternatives to illicit drugs.
Karen Ward, a drug policy and poverty reduction consultant with the City of Vancouver, said the concept of the program needs to be expanded across the country.