Sixteen years after Vancouver formally adopted a ‘four pillars’ approach to drug strategy, the city – and the province – finds itself in the grip of an overdose crisis, reports Andrea Woo

More than 900 people died of illicit drug overdoses in this province last year – the highest such death toll on record. The powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl was confirmed in around 60 per cent of these deaths, and carfentanil – an animal tranquilizer many times more toxic than even fentanyl – is suspected in a recent surge of overdose deaths.  Read the rest of this article at The Globe and Mail…

Keeping Premier Christy Clark’s promise to make British Columbia the most progressive province in Canada for people with disabilities by the year 2024 will require steady raises to disability assistance payments followed by ongoing cost of living increases

The author of the new report Toward Adequate Income Assistance for People with Disabilities in British Columbia, published by the Broadbent Institute ahead of this year’s provincial budget, says higher assistance rates would reverse years of “stealthy” cuts where frozen rates have meant recipients can afford less each year.  Read the rest of this article at The Tyee…
[image by Alyse Kotek, Rabble.ca]

“Carfentanil is an extremely toxic and lethal drug and there is currently no way for people to know whether it is contained in illegal drugs,” Dr. Charmaine Enns, Island Health medical health officer said in a release

A deadly drug 100 times stronger than fentanyl has made its way onto the streets of Nanaimo, according to Mounties. Nanaimo RCMP Const. Gary O’Brien said Health Canada tests have confirmed the presence of carfentanil in a white powder that was seized as part of an on-going investigation. O’Brien said it is the first time carfentanil has been found in drugs in Nanaimo.  Read the rest of this article at Nanaimo News Now…

“Young people who are struggling are not always visible. We wanted to boost our efforts to help them.”

Television and radio show host Stéphane Bellavance says he’s lucky his family is doing well, but should something go amiss, he would love for his boys to have a door to knock on, a door like Fondation Jeunes en tête. Jeunes en tête is the result of two organizations joining forces to support youth in the field of mental health, said spokesman Bellavance, noting that the two groups — the Mental Illness Foundation and the Fondation Québec Jeunes — currently help more than 70,000 children each year.  Read the rest of this article at The Montreal Gazette…