It is International Overdose Awareness Day and the Campbell River Community Action Team, along with several community partners, is hosting an event at Spirit Square.
It’s taking place in two parts: From 3-5 pm, community partners will be on site with education materials, resource information, and Naloxone training.
At 5 pm, the education section of the event will end, and the event will shift to be more oriented towards a community memorial; a casual space for people to sit, listen to music, write letters, or create art to remember and honour loved ones who have been lost to this crisis or who are still struggling. That portion runs from 5-7 pm.
In Courtenay, at Simms Park, things are happening from Noon to 4pm.
It’s hosted by Comox Community Action Team in partnership with Unbroken Chain, Indigenous Women's Sharing Society, and Moms Stop the Harm.
International Overdose Awareness Day provides an annual opportunity for communities to come together to remember those lost to the drug-poisoning crisis and to educate the public about the tools that are available to help prevent future drug poisonings in our community.
This week, the BC Coroners Service said that for the 13th consecutive month, more than 190 British Columbians have lost their lives to the toxic, unregulated drug supply.
Between January and July, at least 1,455 deaths were attributed to toxic drugs, the largest number ever reported by the BC Coroners Service in the first seven months of a calendar year.
The lives of at least 12,739 British Columbians have been lost to unregulated drugs since the public health emergency was first declared in April 2016.
Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death in BC for those aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural disease combined.
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