Today, on the five-year anniversary of BC declaring an overdose health emergency, CMHA BC grieves for the 12,632 British Columbians who have died of illicit drug overdoses in the past 25 years. Already in the first two months of 2021, 329 British Columbians have died of illicit drug overdoses, adding to the 1,724 who died in just 2020.
We know that behind the numbers are the faces, hearts, and stories of the people impacted by the opioid crisis—our friends and family, and our community members and neighbours. And we know that as a community, we have a lot of work to do to help reduce the devastation of this crisis.
We need to continue to do the work to save lives—5.3 of them a day.