10 years since B.C. declared toxic drugs emergency | Globalnews.ca
It has been 10 years since B.C. declared a public health emergency of the toxic drug crisis.
Since the emergency was declared, more than 18,000 people have died in B.C. from toxic drugs, with Indigenous people, men and people working in the trades being the most affected.
“This crisis is impacting our entire province, as well as Canada and North America, and has been filled with heartbreak, fear and grief for families, friends and colleagues,” B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said in a statement on Monday.
“Each person lost was once a child, someone with a story and a future, a life cut short and a loss that families and communities will carry forever.”
Osborne said the province has introduced programs and supportive housing to help those struggling with drug addiction and enable a quicker response to overdoses.
“Together, these efforts alongside other factors, such as changes to the drug supply, have contributed to the declining number of deaths caused by toxic drugs from 2,315 in 2024 to 1,826 in 2025,” Osborne said.
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“The BC Centre for Disease Control regularly models the estimated number of death events averted due to harm reduction and opioid agonist treatment interventions. From January 2019 to October 2025, 49,560 death events, or 78 per cent of potential death events, were prevented with take-home naloxone (39,960), observed consumption sites (17,060) and opioid agonist treatment (23,520).”
B.C.’s provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said in a statement that harm-reduction and overdose-prevention services, including overdose prevention sites, drug checking and access to alternative and unregulated drugs, are saving lives.
“Now more than ever, it is essential that we continue to enable access to these services,” she said.
“At the same time, recovery looks different for everybody and there is no single approach that will end this crisis. Prevention and early intervention, harm reduction, medication-assisted treatment and other evidence-based treatment and recovery services and social supports must be available when people need and are ready for them.”
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