Families Demand Action on Drug Crisis at B.C. Overdose Prevention Day

At Overdose Prevention Day held at the British Columbia legislature, families impacted by the ongoing drug crisis rallied to demand urgent action. Glenn Mahoney, who lost his son Michael to a substance use disorder, addressed the gathering with a somber message: “Death. Too much preventable death.” His son began struggling with addiction at the age of 13 after being prescribed oxycodone for a medical condition, ultimately dying alone in his car at the age of 21. Michael is among over 17,000 individuals in British Columbia who have succumbed to toxic drug use since the provincial government declared a public health emergency in April 2016.

Mahoney expressed frustration over the continued rise in fatalities, noting that an additional 2,000 people have died since last year’s event. “I always find it shocking that people aren’t outraged at this level of death,” he stated, highlighting his disappointment with the lack of governmental response to this crisis. Demonstrators at the rally included families who laid on the steps of the legislature, covered with signs that read “They were so loved,” underlining the personal toll of the epidemic.

The leading cause of death among individuals aged 19 to 59 in the province remains drug toxicity, a fact emphasized by Lisa Lapointe, former Chief Coroner of British Columbia, during her speech. She called for standardized, evidence-based treatment options to be integrated into public health care, questioning, “Why isn’t our government bringing this kind of health care into the health care fold?”

Despite being well-educated, Mahoney and his wife struggled to navigate the healthcare system to find effective treatment for their son. They resorted to private treatment programs, which he described as “very expensive” and focused solely on abstinence. Mahoney noted that these programs often stigmatized patients for using prescribed psychiatric medications. At one stage, Michael had achieved a degree of stability using pharmaceutical alternatives, commonly referred to as safe supply, but when his access to these alternatives was cut off, he turned to street drugs, leading to his tragic death.

Michael’s case was highlighted in a 2020 review by the coroners’ death review panel, which noted the significant challenges the family faced in accessing appropriate healthcare. “At every point and every encounter, the system made his condition worse,” Mahoney lamented, attributing this to a failure in public policy.

Lapointe and Kelsey Roden, an addiction medicine specialist and co-founder of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy, echoed Mahoney’s sentiments. They pointed out that while overdose prevention sites and decriminalization efforts have made progress, the underlying issues of stigma and prohibition remain unresolved. According to Lapointe, public health professionals have identified straightforward measures to prevent further deaths, beginning with the recognition of addiction as a health issue.

She criticized the existence of private residential treatment centers that charge “tens of thousands of dollars” for unregulated treatment, advocating instead for broader access to pharmaceutical alternatives. “These [alternatives] are a really, really important way of stabilizing people so they can start to see a future, moving them away from the chaotic drug trade,” she explained.

For Glenn and Jan Mahoney, their grief is compounded by a determination to prevent other families from suffering similar losses. They pledged to advocate each year until meaningful change occurs. “If I have to be here every year until I’m 100… I’m gonna be here to tell the government that this is not good enough. These lives matter,” Jan Mahoney stated, remembering their son as a “creative, artistic, funny, caring and polite” young man who once performed with the Victoria Opera.

As the community reflects on the impact of this crisis, the call for systemic change in the healthcare response to addiction grows ever more urgent.