It’s hard to believe opioid deaths are dropping when you’re walking on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where B.C.'s drug crisis is most visible.
Open drug use is still common and on a dry day, you can count on seeing dozens of people unconscious on the sidewalk.
But the numbers don’t lie: overdose deaths in 2024 decreased 12 per cent in B.C. and across the country compared to the previous 12 months, according to January data from the province and March data from Health Canada.
The downward trend is even more pronounced in the U.S., where drops in fatalities of up to 45 per cent have been seen in states like North Carolina, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which aggregates state numbers.
However, any progress could be undermined if either country sees a dramatic shift in drug supply or harm reduction measures, warns Nabarun Dasgupta, a senior scientist at the University of North Carolina’s Opioid Data Lab, which has been closely monitoring the shift in the U.S.
Dasgupta’s team in North Carolina is still trying to nail down the reasons behind the significant decrease in overdose deaths, which have been seen in all U.S. states except Nevada and Alaska.
He has three main theories, which at first appeared like total anomalies.
The first is an apparent shift toward a more varied drug supply that’s less based on fentanyl and includes lots of ingredients, like other synthetic opioids or amphetamines. Simply put, the drug supply may be getting saturated with substances that are less dangerous than large amounts of fentanyl.
“People are telling us in our field studies that the dope isn’t the same as it used to be,” Dasgupta said.
Then there’s the drug users themselves. People who regularly crunch the numbers on overdose deaths know there’s a certain cohort of people that commonly makes up a majority of fatalities. In Canada in 2024, 73 per cent of overdoses deaths happened to men aged 30 to 39, according to Health Canada.
In the U.S., about 70 per cent of overdose deaths hit men in their late-40s to mid-50s. Dasgupta suspects parts of that cohort may have stopped using drugs or could be dying of other causes.
The last hypothesis for the decline is more hopeful.
Interventions could be having a real impact. Treatment options, including lifesaving opioid reversal drugs like naxolone, which people regularly carry with them, or programs to reduce the stigma of drug use or educate young people on the dangers, might be making a dent.
It adds up, says Sarah Blyth, who says the Overdose Prevention Society saves people every day in different ways.
Still, she remains sceptical of a permanent improvement in the long-running drug crisis, as she personally knows people who have recently died from the supply. Optimism in this rolling crisis is easily broken and people are desperate to see things improve.
“No one wants to see anymore people dying,” Blyth said. “I want to see people living the best life that they can.”
Imma say it.
Drugs should be legalised. All of them.
People should be free to do as they want with their bodies so long as the substances are regulated. By legalising drugs, you accomplish endless positives:
- You ensure the product people buy is pure and not laced with unwanted substances (especially regarding heroin which is often laced with fentanyl)
- You take away demand from the black market, and thus also deal a blow to organised crime
- People that are curious in trying these drugs have the chance to do so with relative safety
- The government can regulate limits on how much can be sold at a time and the maximum quantities of packages/doses
- Additional cash flow in the economy much like we saw from legalising cannabis
- More direct assistance to those addicted to drugs by leading them to resources to kick their habits. A regulated market ensures those already under the influence can’t purchase until they’re sober, unlike the unregulated black market where addiction is seen as a positive due to repeat customers.
- Added freedom of bodily autonomy. If I want to try cocaine or heroin once assuming a relatively safe environment to do so, that should be my right.
- You can prevent the spread of bloodborne diseases by giving clean needles with the product for injected substances.
This is all a net positive. Where people see legalisation as the seeds of drug anarchy, it’d actually be the opposite, regulating the problem and thus decreasing the harms to the public caused by an unregulated market that faces a cruel cycle of addiction and incarceration.
As a child you get it banged in your head that drugs are bad and evil and people give you drugs if you’re not careful. And it always made sense to me. Now as a grown ass adult i just see other adults and companies telling me what the good drugs are and wich one we’re allowing you to use because we’re so nice. No you can’t grow mushrooms are you crazy? Go and buy your Jack Daniels™ and smoke a Malbaro™ and be a good member of society.
I think what you mean is “decriminalized”.
Portugal is a shining example of how and why decriminalization can work; they treat drug addiction as a health issue rather than a criminal one. They have also put a lot of planning and effort into shifting resources into the infrastructure required to make that approach viable; more support staff and locations, awareness training for police.
Fentanyl is already legal and regulated.
So is alcohol, and we know how great that’s been. .
Not to mention that legal drugs like alcohol disproportionately impact low-income people.
So the problem isnt drugs… its being poor. So the logical thing is make being poor illegal!
Um, no.
The problem is that drugs impact the poor the most. So making them easier to get, “legal”, and cheaper just puts them in a deeper hole.
When you see a government, like Ontario under Ford, who HATES the homeless, but also wants to dump hundreds of millions into the alcohol industry, you can start to see a pattern of systemic discrimination targeting those who are most vulnerable.
All of these drugs suck, but they suck more if you’re already at a disadvantage.
Heavily restricted, and not classed as recreational. As in you need a prescription at minimum, and having it without is a crime.
