'So much sadness': more British Columbians dying from overdoses than Covid
900 British Columbians died of an overdose this year, more than four times the number killed by coronavirus
Friday, August 28, 2020
A growing number of drug policy experts, users and advocates argue that dramatically expanding access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin is the only meaningful way to save lives. At a press conference this week announcing the latest deaths, those calls grew louder. Flanked by the province’s top doctor and its chief coroner, longtime harm reduction advocate Guy Felicella pleaded for the government to create a legal, regulated safe supply of heroin, and possibly even powdered fentanyl in controlled doses. “With the [fentanyl] concentration levels here in BC, we have this contaminated drug market that can kill you in one hit. That’s why we need a regulated drug market,” Felicella said. (See also: Expand safe supply options for people who use drugs, Ontario advocates say)
