‘Significant increase’ in overdose deaths in Campbell River, BC
Locals agreeThere were already a lot of people dying on the streets of Campbell River, BC, before 13 people died in a recent six-and-a-half-week span.
The numbers are staggering for little people vancouver island cThe city, where about 35,000 people live, is about 220 kilometers northwest of Victoria. This led to the local RCMP detachment issue a rare warning This month about what they suspect to be a batch of particularly poisonous drugs in the community.
For users, their families, friends, and public health workers, the deaths that occur in the small networks people have built to care for each other are deeply felt.
“I knew them all, we knew them all, they’re our friends,” said Anne-Marie Levack, a Campbell River resident who uses crack cocaine.
13 deaths dramatically break the overall pattern Overdose numbers decline In the province – a trend that has been Celebrated throughout Canada and the United States From the end of 2024.
Latest numbers from BC Coroners Service Show 21 people have died in Campbell River so far this year through the end of August. The increase since September 1 brings it to 34.
Dr. Jackie Erickson, a family therapist who works in addiction medicine in Campbell River and visits other cities on northern Vancouver Island, says more services for people living with addiction could make a difference in reducing the numbers.
hub City
Erickson says geography is one of the factors that contributes to the high rates of drug use in the city, as many users from other communities are migrating south for Campbell River’s services. Some people find toxic supplies there before they can get help.
A harm reduction kiosk, safe injection and smoking sites and a warming center are among what Erickson calls “connection pieces” the city has been missing recently.
“I’m really concerned that people are living alone, like in tents, like in the jungle, and are overdosing and dying that way, so I think the loss of services has really hurt our population.”
It will take some time for the BC Coroners Service to investigate.e september dEvidence may be able to pinpoint exactly what caused the deaths of those 13 people, but RCMP say no matter what investigators come up with, the toxic supply and persistently random dangerous elements are worrisome.
Campbell River RCMP issued a rare public alert after 11 suspicious deaths in the area during a five-week period this month. Overdose deaths declined in BC by the beginning of 2025, but the destruction of the toxic supply continues, particularly in the small Vancouver Island community.
In BC, as elsewhere, fentanyl has been the biggest driver of overdoses.
There are two locations a few streets away from each other for users in Campbell River to access harm reduction services and drug testing. But if people want support and want to stop using all together, the nearest detox center is in NanaIMO, 150 kilometers to the south.
As far as more housing supply, the city and province say 48 new units have come online in Campbell River since late last year for people who have been sleeping rough or in shelters outside the city for at least two years.
However, BC Coroners Service statistics show that the majority of people who die from toxic drugs in BC die in private residences. which is why, for cAccording to Huntl Costas, mental health and toxic supplies are the top problems to solve when it comes to keeping people alive.
Costas watched his 20-year-old son Santos struggle with drug addiction on the streets of Campbell River.
The drugs had “sedated everything in his mind”, she says, before his death in 2022.
“If there was no supply of poisonous medicines, these people would not have died,” he said.
Santos was offered a bed in a facility in RichMond, just outside Vancouver, but Costas couldn’t get him there in time.
Santos died a few days later.
“You’d like to think that your son’s death had some impact and that things would start to change,” he said.
Costas says she honors her son by collecting and donating food and clothing to street users in Campbell River. She says she’s one of many in the community doing everything she can to fill the void she sees in the drug crisis there.
But she says this recent surge felt like a reminder that something was dramatically failing.
“It all brought me back to, like, how many other moms are there?”
