This year’s International Overdose Awareness Day event comes at a time when illicit drug toxicity deaths have increased and surpassed historic highs.

International Overdose Awareness Day occurs annually on August 31 and is the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, reflect and remember without stigma those who have died, and acknowledge the grief of family and friends.

The theme is “Time to Remember. Time to Act.” With this in mind, BCCDC is highlighting the voices of those who have been most impacted by the public health emergency and sharing information to encourage action.

Five Priorities of People with Lived and Living Experience of Substance Use

The members of PEEP, a committee of professional consultants with past or present substance use experience from throughout B.C., have issued a statement for International Overdose Awareness Day. The statement identifies five priorities for future work on policies related to drug use and harm reduction. The priorities were developed at a recent meeting with people with lived and living experience of substance use representing communities from around BC. They say these priorities would help achieve a framework that respects the political and social rights of people who use drugs and accommodates the needs of people who use drugs.

Read the statement and learn about the five priorities.

Naloxone is not enough: Letters from the Heart of the Crisis

Twelve letters written by people with lived or living experience of drug use offer perspectives into the ongoing overdose emergency. The letters about the B.C.’s Take Home Naloxone program were written by members of PEEP and Peer2Peer, two peer-led organizations that advise BCCDC. Naloxone is a lifesaving medication that can reverse opioid overdose. The program has helped avert many deaths, however, the letters emphasize that overdoses are preventable and naloxone is not enough.

Read the letters on Toward the Heart website.

Illicit drug toxicity deaths have increased and surpassed historic highs

Since the declaration of the COVID-19 public health emergency in March 2020, the rate of overdose events and illicit drug toxicity deaths have increased and surpassed historic highs. In 2020, 1,724 people died from overdose compared to 991 people in 2016, the year the overdose public health emergency was declared.

The median age of death is 44, making illicit drug toxicity deaths the second highest cause of potential years of life lost in B.C., after cancer. It is among the top three causes of death for age groups under 19, 19 to 39 and 40 to 59.

Indigenous people disproportionately impacted by overdose during COVID-19 pandemic

The number of First Nations people in BC who lost their lives due to the toxic drug supply jumped dramatically during COVID-19, according to data released in May 2021 by the First Nations Health Authority.

First Nations people are dying from toxic drugs at 5.3 times the rate of other B.C. residents. First Nations individuals make up 3.3. per cent of B.C.’s population yet accounted for almost 15 per cent of toxic drug deaths in 2020. The increasingly toxic drug supply, combined with the harms of historical and present-day colonialism, are key factors in the crisis.

To help address some of the barriers to accessing culturally safe mental health and addiction treatment, and harm reduction services, the First Nations Health Authority launched a harm reduction campaign this summer. The campaign includes a video series: Increase the Support. Reduce the Harm. The videos feature Indigenous people talking about harm reduction and the impact of toxic drugs in their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Posters and other materials are also available.

Tips to make drug use safer

• Carry naloxone
• Don’t use alone:
• Use overdose prevention services
• Buddy up and use with another person. Don’t use at the same time so there is always someone who can respond in the event of an overdose.
• Use the lifeguard app if it is available to you
• Test your drugs
• Talk to your provider about OAT or pharmaceutical alternatives to illicit drugs

Resources for people who use substances and people who are likely to witness an overdose

• Take Home Naloxone program and training information
• Find a naloxone distribution site or other harm reduction supplies with the site finder
• If you witness an overdose, call 911
• The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act (PDF) provides protection for people at the scene of an overdose from charges for simple possession of drugs (i.e. for personal use) and breach of probation or parole related to simple possession.
• Community-based non-profit agencies seeking naloxone for use by staff may be eligible for the Facility Overdose Response Box program

Spotlight: Overdose Awareness Day events