An alleyway in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Photo via Wikimedia
BC has long been one of the most affected by the onset of bootleg fentanyl, where most recent numbers show that about four people die a day due to illicit drug overdose. This week, another troubling number has come out of ground zero of the opioid crisis: On the infamous "Welfare Wednesday," when people get their monthly welfare cheques, there were a record 130 calls requesting emergency response for drug overdose in a single day.The previous record was recorded in November 20, 2016, with 121 calls reporting ODs in one day.The number of deaths that occurred on Wednesday are unknown at this point. In last month alone, 120 people died in the province due to drug overdose.
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"The number of preventable deaths in Vancouver and B.C. continues to skyrocket, yet we see a status quo response from the B.C. government to a public health emergency that is now more than a year old," said a City of Vancouver news release on Thursday."It's atrocious that so many people are dying; we need the B.C. government to take action with urgent health care interventions. With the federal government expanding access to safe prescription drugs, there's no reason the province can't take immediate action to save lives by expanding drug therapy programs to all those in need."Follow Allison Tierney on Twitter .