Dirk Meissner and Nick Wells
Heartfelt messages are left on a table as people come out to mark International Overdose Awareness Day during a mass group naloxone training seminar at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019. When British Columbia s provincial health officer declared an emergency into the overdose crisis five years ago, he said it was because those who died deserved more of a response. Since then, Dr. Perry Kendall says roughly 7,000 died unnecessarily.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito April 14, 2021 - 3:30 PM Calls for bold, courageous and compassionate actions were made Wednesday by top health officials and advocates as British Columbia marked the fifth anniversary of its deadly overdose crisis.
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Annie Storey, centre, holds a cross with a photo of her late son Alex Storey, before a march to mark the five-year anniversary of British Columbia declaring a public health emergency in the overdose crisis, in Vancouver, on April 14, 2021.
DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
As people took turns speaking into a microphone from the back of a flatbed truck, Annie Storey looked on, clutching a white cross bearing a photo of her son, Alex.
The Dance Centre will showcase online performances in the lead up to International Dance Day on April 29.
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson said today the province will seek an exemption from drug possession laws under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The section allows the federal health minister to grant exemptions from the act’s provisions if deemed medically necessary or in the public interest.
Malcolmson also said Tuesday’s provincial budget will include $45 million over three years for expanded supervised consumption sites, naloxone kits and outreach teams to connect people with services.
The announcements come on the heels of B.C.’s. worst year for toxic drug deaths and almost seven months after the government promised an expanded safe supply of substances to reduce users’ risks. Critics say little progress has been made in delivering on the pre-election promise.
7,000 more overdose deaths since B C declared public health emergency in 2016 - Canada News castanet.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from castanet.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Calls for bold, courageous and compassionate actions were made Wednesday by top health officials and advocates as British Columbia marked the fifth anniversary of its deadly overdose crisis.
Heartfelt messages are left on a table as people come out to mark International Overdose Awareness Day during a mass group naloxone training seminar at Centennial Square in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday August 31, 2019. nbsp;When British Columbia s provincial health officer declared an emergency into the overdose crisis five years ago, he said it was because those who died deserved more of a response. Since then, Dr. Perry Kendall says roughly 7,000 died unnecessarily. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito