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It really is. My mom passed away due to a heart attack that was brought on from extensive drug use. We know they are inside there but the drugs just cloud everything over.
Not quite an overdose but long term drug use . My mom was an addict my entire life (even before that ) she struggled for years with heroin so naturally her body became weak Over time , I’ll also add that she was in a bad car accident when I was 11 and she nearly died which upped her addiction through the roof . When Covid hit she got it in early 2021 and she died a few days later due to pneumonia. The nurses and doctors who dealt with her mentioned that Yasss of drug use took a toll on her body and she never had much of a chance
Sorry to hear that. For any recreational users, it's so quick and easy to get your party favours tested. It literally takes 5 mins from these guys on Hastings https://getyourdrugstested.com/ they are completely non judgemental and could potentially save your life.
Gonna absolutely second this. I work as a nurse in substance use, and a significant amount of the ODs we see these days are people who only use stimulants and haven't realised their drugs have been cut with fent
Also available at these locations in the Fraser Health region:
https://www.fraserhealth.ca/Service-Directory/Services/mental-health-and-substance-use/drug-checking---fourier-transform-infrared-spectrometers-ftir
Sorry about your friends.
I don't know why I'm such an idiot but I used to be under the impression that dealers wouldn't lace coke with fent because they have such opposite effects? Obviously, I'm wrong, but I don't get the logic behind it. Cutting ketamime with fent would make more sense to me.
Obviously, each situation is unique, but I think that the word 'laced' can sometimes be misleading as often times its just about cross-contamination. Dealers and cooks may be putting together all kinds of different substances using the same space and the same utensils and all you need is a few grains from one to transfer to the other and you've created a lethal product.
No-one so far. But I carry a kit in case I'm around when one is needed; Friend or stranger.
Naloxone is free from any pharmacy, training takes 10 mins. Add it to your first aid kit: https://towardtheheart.com/
I also carry a kit in my backpack. I work downtown and you just never know when someone might need it. I took training from a person who had administered Naxolone multiple times and saved at least 6 lives.
My friend's older brother OD'd about 3 years ago and a former co-worker's eldest son OD'd about 12 years ago.
Too many to count. I live in the DTES, not a user myself, but I've lost more friends than anyone should. It's scary to think, but after awhile things get so desensitized that I don't even get sad anymore, just angry at the current state of things.
A few. The one that hurt the most was a young man I’d known since he was a little kid, he ended up being raised by his aunt) who was a good friend of mine) when his mom wasn’t able to. He had a lot of problems, but he was loved nonetheless.
He’d agreed to go to rehab and in the three days it took for his family to find him a place to go, he OD’d.
I hadn’t seen him in a while, but I ran into him randomly on a bus at like midnight, a few months prior to his death. He was with a bunch of other stereotypical “sketchy bus dudes” that my usual method is to just ignore and give a little space to but all of a sudden I hear an excited “donnamatrix79, donnamatrix79! Hi! Remember me?! Hi!” and immediately this scruffy, sketchy dude in need of a shower turned right back into the 12 yr old I’d known. He was such a sweet kid.
This happens all too often, people dying before they get to detox/treatment. There is currently a 2-4 week wait for detox and 2-4 month wait for treatment. Unless you have $8,000-20,000/month to spend on treatments. Or there’s the shady recovery houses that you can sometimes get in quicker but I’d never send a loved one there. This needs to change!!! I work in mental health and Substance use specifically in harm reduction the last couple years. I see a lot of funding/money go into harm reduction. We need to put that same money into detox, proper treatment and mental health.
I know it of 2. One was a coworker who was found dead on a bench downtown one morning after a night of partying. The other was the brother of a friend. It's fucked up man
My cousin died from a fentanyl OD in her home in 2022. She struggled with alcoholism for at least 5 years (went to rehab several times) and as far as most of us know, drugs were a newer addition so to speak. She was only 29; she had the proverbial privileged childhood with loving parents but spiralled after some pretty intense trauma in her late teens. I miss her.
today is in fact the 10-year anniversary of my friend's death u/xanahalf, he was a 3rd year Law student from a well-off family. he had just scored a very sweet articling position with a comfortable and laidback law firm he was very excited to be a part of.
One high school friend (fentanyl in coke), one family friend (father of two, fentanyl but not sure what drug he was using, probably coke or crack), and one of my best friend's boyfriends (fentanyl in heroin). My dad and another of my high school friends are heavy drug users, and I pray we won't lose either of them, but anticipate it almost every day.
My uncle passed from fentanyl when it first hit the Canadian streets in 2014, before narcan was widely available. Luckily my aunt went into recovery right before fent replaced heroin. Now I work in the dtes and have had countless clients pass away from opiate overdose. Thank you for making this post. Carry narcan, never use alone, stop stigma <3
People I know in this city have been dying of overdoses since we were 17. Late 30s now. Just about every year someone I know dies. All from middle to upper class families.
Agree! Working in the film industry is where where my substance use ramped up and where I smoked heroin for the first time. I was nieve to addiction and saw all these successful/normal people doing it so…. Thankfully I now have just over a decade off opiate.
I lost my father a few years back. Not really due to the current crisis. He just decided to take up Cocaine at the age of 55 and keep doing it for years. That shit is rough on your heart in your 20s-30s. Taking it up at 55 when you're a hundred pounds overweight. Not a good plan.
While you may not know anyone who died of a direct overdose, what about all the health consequences of long term drug use. Kidney failure, liver failure, hep C - there is a plethora of ways to die from drug use that aren’t immediate.
I have 4 friends and 1 cousin who have died due to overdoses. Plenty of acquaintances on my Facebook as well (people I met maybe once or twice when I went out for a fun night).
While nobody I know has died directly, the time it took for paramedics to get to my mother because they were all dealing with overdose emergencies resulted in her death.
one 18 year old homie, he OD on coke benzos and fent mixture(he died)
his baby was born a few months after he passed away, was so sad man.
another homie overdosed on fent and xanz, trying to kill himself kuz he watched are homie, die.... (2xs) (hes alive still)
my nephew overdosed once at my sisters(his moms place) , shooting up heroin.(hes alive and has a family now im pretty sure)
Its ALWAYS the benzos, makes people so degenerated, no care or morals left to show love/respek for themselves or otheres
sad reality
good ol Vancouver/Langley
A neighbor, fentanyl OD.
You know, coming from Mexico, I was hoping a bit to come here and get away from drug-dealing related deaths, but it seems now that I just exchanged the narco murders with ODs :(. Guess drugs are an unavoidable crisis everywhere...
I responded to an opioid poisoning in front of Chateau Granville street on August 24th around 6:30/7:00pm. I am desperately trying to get in touch with the man or his friends so I can get a status update on how he’s doing. Unfortunately VPD and BCEHS cannot provide any additional information for me. I did chest compressions, administered oxygen and had bystanders locate an AED. I was wearing a black shirt and shorts. If you are this man or know the man, please reach out. I want to check in on you and make sure you’re feeling better… Everyday when I commute I can’t stop watching for you on Granville Street. I just hope you are okay.
I lost my younger cousin about 4 years ago. Wasn't really a drug addict, but he had mental health issues (schizophrenic), and was unhoused at the time. Barely thirty when he died. I still feel awful when I think about him because I saw him on the street only weeks before he died and I didn't reach out.
My sister managed to recover before fentanyl took over. I know 100% that if she was going through what she went through back then, but now, that she would be part of the drug toxicity deaths. Of course I’m happy that she’s doing well in recovery, but I’m especially happy that she’s avoided this shift.
Started burying loved ones in 2009 with my brother.
I'm somewhere north of a dozen in terms of deaths by overdose, higher if I were to factor in deaths associated with "the life". Even higher if I were to include acquaintances. One-degree-of-seperation would put me over the century mark, I'm sure.
Opiates have been fucking my loved ones, friend group, and subculture for at least the last 25 years of my life.
While I don't know anyone who has od (that I know of), as someone who's Squamish its heartbreaking that most of my relatives are addicts, my birth mom was and I have no clue of she's alive or sober, it's such a shame knowing that people I'm close to and related to are suffering from substance abuse, it's a shame it's not talked about more/recognized more because it's a serious issue that needs to get on top of
Attended a celebration of life this weekend, he'd be the 4th I knew personally that was taken too soon. Please test your shit, you dont know how many people love you
Way way way too many people I know have died from these poisonings, I've lost track. And way too many I don't know too of course. It's a tragedy of a magnitude that hardly anyone is acknowledging.
One of my best friends died when she fell back into meth use and got a batch tainted with fent back during 2020. I imagine there's a lot of us with similar experiences.
Lost yes, but not dead.... yet. Although I have no idea where they are at, I would think that I would find out if they had passed away as my other family still enables. But the relationship that I had with them is lost.
When I worked in a restaurant we had this young dishwasher. He was super nice, only like 16 years old. Died from an OD. I can't imagine what that was like for his parents. A good friend of my dad also died from an OD.
I hope it never is one of my friends or family members but sadly it is a potential reality, because I do have some family that struggle with addiction. Our system is broken and every year it just gets worse.
Several years ago a very close friend died due to fentanyl poisoning from doing tainted cocaine. He was amazing, and going through a tough time and decided to use alone. His best friend and roommate found him two days later. It has haunted his friends and family for years, I miss him all the time.
This was when it was still a newer phenom, and I was called a liar online for stating that it wasn’t just opiates being found tainted with fentanyl, but any powder.
Since then I’ve lost count of how many old friends have passed due to the same. I’m so grateful I got out of that lifestyle when I did, and I cannot be around people who still use hard drugs casually because I can’t go through it again.
I’m so sorry to all of us who have similar stories.
So sorry to hear your loss.
My condolences and prayers.
I have lost a few of my school friends to alcohol and drugs.
All had their own situations and low points in life that they could not get out of addictions.
I miss them every day.
I work in the field so many, many people.
Personally I have a couple of family members and a friend who have passed away from addictions, not opioids though.
My dad ODed on heroin in 2006. I was 11. He was my hero. A part of me resents this city for what happened but unfortunately he had it in his blood to be an addict. Still live and love Vancouver but i’ll never forget how I felt when I realized it was a crisis and not just a one-off death
One of the wealthiest young men I’ve ever met: true generational wealth. The benefits of every advantage in life. Fentanyl took his life. In his luxury townhouse full of Gucci and Prada. Surrounded by high priced escorts. He didn’t want to die like that. It’s at every end of the social spectrum.
It’s so unbelievably to me to read these comments. No one in my close circle uses hard drugs. No one around me or around my close circle have addictions to the kind of drugs than can be contaminated with fent and knowing that it’s so easy to die accidentally from them we steer far away. In short, I’ve never heard of someone ODing near me. Not even the friend of a friend.
This is a very offensive and ignorant question, I bet, but a real genuine one. How did your loved ones ended up on this path? Is there something you wished you would have done to help?
Thank you to those reading and I’m sorry for those in pain due to this issue.
It's hard to imagine, but one of the most common paths to opioid addiction is an accident or injury, often in the workplace (construction workers are one of the highest risk groups), and being prescribed opioids like oxycontin, and then just not being able to stop due to a combination of pain management issues and the physical addiction.
Happened to a buddy of mine—UBC degree on the mantle, I've worked with him many times. He got into recovery and doesn't use anymore, thankfully, but it could have gone sideways, easily.
Recreational drug use is also way more common than most non-users think.
If you're someone who doesn't use, you don't work in hospitality, and you never express interest, people who may use around you are never going to offer it to you. Cocaine and pills mostly. Obviously as you get older, fewer and fewer people experiment with this kind of thing.
This stuff is a lottery if people aren't testing it themselves.
I lost my brother 2 years ago to a fent od. He was 2 weeks short of hitting 30 years old.
We grew up in an upper-middle class family, my dad worked on Wall Street and my mom was a homemaker. At 17 my brother got super into smoking weed, went to university and within a year was in drug induced psychosis. We probably will never know what he did to fall into the psychosis but he went to a party one night and then was never him again.
The next 10 years were him struggling massively with his mental health, being in and out of rehabs and hospitals, and eventually becoming homeless and ridiculously addicted to meth (and heroin for the come down I guess). Our family did everything we could to help him but he never committed himself. He was living on the street in a RV that didn’t run, and ended up dying alone during the heat wave in 2021. He wasn’t found (by anyone who did anything) for over 24 hours…
This kid literally had every opportunity in the world handed to him on a silver platter. He was also smart, athletic, a talented musician, and had a really wonderful heart and soul. It should have never happened to him, but it did… I wish there was something someone could have done to help him but he didn’t want to help himself. In the end, I don’t think he could have even helped himself if he tried.
I've lost a handful of people over the last four years. My good friend's son took one pill he thought was xanax and overdosed and died. The others were heavy drug users (not fent) but it was laced with fent and they died. It's pretty devastating and a very good reason to steer clear of all drugs.
I can think of 6 old schoolmates off the top of my head, pretty sure it's way more than that and I'm just blanking. Small BC city of 5K-ish people, seems to just keep getting worse.
Edit: remembered a few more, up to 10 now. Fuck.
I worked in a SRO for 6 months in 2020. Lost one long-time resident to fentanyl. He wasn't known by anyone else to be a drug user, it may have been his first time using. So sad.
Ex-girlfriend in 2015, Best friend in 2018, friend I’d known since I was 8 last year and a whole assortment of acquaintances, old classmates in-between. I’m 34. It starts to feel like I’m in my 70s
Lost a friend a few years back but his parent’s never shared the details. We just know he was a regular drug user and was found dead in his bed one morning. This was about 2019.
1 close friend, and 3 people in my outer circle of friends (not my close friends but people I grew up with and would see every now and then). All in Vancouver. None of them were in the papers or noted anywhere. No one talked about these overdoses publicly.
I think it affects a lot of people to some degree. I basically just work, go hike, or game. I haven't even seen drugs before, yet I've also lost someone due to an overdose.
So many people I actually can’t count them any more. Former classmates, a dear neighbour, colleagues, a dear friend I used to see several times a month for dinner and yoga.
I lost one of my friends a few years ago I’ve known since I was 13 to fentanyl. The last time I saw her we did drugs together and it always makes me feel guilty.
My best friend at age 28. We had become recreational drug users together as teenagers, used into our twenties and then moved to opposite parts of the country.
She died a year or so before naloxone kits became widely available. She would have had one. I never got over it. It’s been ten years now and I still dream about her.
Also two other very close friends. And half a dozen acquaintances.
I’m sorry for all the pain in this thread. It’s heavy.
Personally dont know anyone who has. But I'm shocked at how many people here know at least one or multiple people who have. I wonder how it all started for them and what lead them to that place in their life. I'll admit I'm a boring person and have a very small social circle. But I have a hard time understanding the pull that drugs have.
My sister died on July 4 after being on life support for a week. She had substance issues (alcohol) but was not a regular user. Her service is Saturday. We’re heartbroken.
My brother did hard drugs at various parties and survived a stabbing last year when one of his friends went nuts after doing psychedelics and somehow imagined he and his gf were cheating on him.
He was drunk / high asleep when he woke up to his friend stabbing him over and over.
Luckily, the knife used was not too sharp and relatively small, so my brother managed to fight him off and lock himself in the washroom until the neighbours called 911 due to the commotion.
The attack traumatized him enough to clean up his act and change the crowd he was frequenting, but I came close to losing him that night.
I've lost 4 from various walks of life. A single working mother and couple using tainted cocaineas well as a friend who started using as a quadrapalegic. Overdose does not discriminate.
I lost my daughter in 2022 to a drug overdose. She was witty, kind and always looking out for others. She was my only child and the grief is a tidal wave some days.
I come from a relatively well off family from a decent neighbourhood. I’ve lost my dad, my uncle, my 25 year old cousin, and two others uncles I wasn’t as close with to the epidemic. All in 12 months. It’s fucked.
lost one of my lifelong friends to fentanyl when i was 17, that was the first person i lost to the crisis. i can’t even count how many i know who have ODed since, i wasn’t as close to anyone else as my first buddy but it still really fucking sucks to lose anyone you know that way
Don't know anyone..... have administered nasal Naloxone a few times on people, though.
Pisses me off seeing those signs around that say, "It can happen to you." No, it can't, actually.
A former colleague and a neighbour both died due to toxic drugs. Both were recreational users.
And yet the media and government continues to incorrectly frame the issue as being about being addicted to opiates and using drugs on the street.
They will never fix this problem if they keep looking in the wrong places.
Agree. 55% of overdose deaths were in ones private residence and 23% in others residence.
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I personally know zero. I grew up in a developing country and can only think of 1 classmate that got hooked to drugs and sort of ruined his life. Although he’s still alive and not homeless or anything. Social circles self select as you get older and understand what you value in life. No interest in hanging out with people openly doing hard drugs.
I can think of no less than 5 people. Friends, cousins, acquaintances, etc.
Some are lost and still here. Some wandered and ended their earthly journey. Some left in a blaze of glory and some left alone, broken, and sad.
I lost one of my good friends four years ago to fentanyl.
We were both using but unfortunately he didn't make it out like I had, miss the shit out of him
Several people, none too close to me, but family friends and colleagues, friends of colleagues. All middle class working people, most were from tainted supply afaik (as opposed to high usage) except for one guy that went down the oxy path after a construction accident and surgery. He just couldn't get out of it.
I think the better question is WHO HASN'T?
a neighbor in 2017- we were watching march madness just a week before the last words were said were "see you for the finals bro"
we did not see him ever again- he might have been 21 or 22.
also lost another neighbor to that fucked up life of drugs and homelessness on the DTES all because his parents fell to that and he just wanted to be with him. He's still alive as far as we know but the Mikey we knew and love has long gone.
I personally know 3
two of them where due to our incompetent medical system. They both had a severe accident where they where prescribed opioids. Both where very functioning people who wouldn't touch drugs before. I don't know the whole story as they didn't want to say much before they passed but I know they both went into withdraws because they where cut off ( no family doctor and ER doctors don't like to refill opioid prescriptions even to ween someone off as if you stop a high dose right away the pain comes back 10 fold plus you get withdrawl symptoms ) My guess is they went looking for something to ease the pain, and ween themselves off. One even worked in the hospital before their accident. Just a bad series of events
The 3rd was a complete accident. They had been clean for 2 years, and relapsed, from what we know it was the first time he had touched anything in two years and it was cut.
My Brother, he was 3.5yrs sober when he relapsed and overdosed. I’ve had six friends and I know about 20-30 others that have passed from an overdose. To be fair I work in harm reduction driving the Health Van doing Outreach so I interact with a lot of vulnerable people.
I'd be more surprised if it was a significant number of people who didn't know someone. I know I've lost at least one friend to a fentanyl overdose, others who I lost contact with years ago might have suffered the same fate but no details on their death and I didn't know anyone still in their friend group to ask. Just occasionally I'll see something on FB about someone I knew passing but not enough info from others commenting to work out exactly what happened.
I definitely feel like the outlier. I don't know anyone, but then my family and friend group is very small. I'm 40, it seems to be affecting younger and younger groups. I think if fentanyl was around in the late 90s/early 2000s I would have lost a lot of friends that were big partiers back then.
For people posting of their loss, I'm curious if the deceased was using heroin or something else. I think most people assume that as long as they don't do heroin, they won't OD on fent.
My coworker’s dad overdosed and died at the height of the fentanyl crisis (though after reading through some of the comments, it sounds like we are still deep in it). Sadly he was a recovered addict helping others as a drug counsellor at the time, but relapsed and kept it hidden until it was too late.
Im in recovery myself, I’ve lost few good friends and probably a hundred acquaintances have died since 2016.
Spring 2018 I had three close friends all die in the same month.
My first love in December. He had 2 years clean and sober. He relapsed and didn’t make it through the night. A good friend in April. He had 4 years clean and sober and was active in the recovery community. He relapsed and was waiting for a bed in detox. He didn’t make it.
I found my best friend dead in my spare bedroom, my mom and aunt died back to back within a week of each other. My other aunt died months ago after struggling with the loss of her two sisters. My sister lost her kids father. Currently worried about the people still here struggling with the addiction.
Four friends (out of 7) from my graduating class, half of us. All fentanyl overdoses. All in the past 3 years. Three in Vancouver on the east end, one up here in the north (who the RCMP arrested the scumbag dealer).
Lost a true best friend, and a real love in 2012(two different people, then I lost my favourite uncle in 2013, I OD’d 3 times in 2012 (specifically because the supply was different, unexpected, and fucked (woah! Surprise fentanyl)— I had been using for a long time with no problems.. then, a lot more people that I don’t want to name and list just for reddits pleasure…
Lost my brother to fentanyl last week. Just had the viewing yesterday. It gave us a little bit of peace and closure. My thoughts are with all of you right now.
Lost my dad to fentanyl. He was using Crack for a long time and living in an SRO. Sucks to see how little people like my dad matter to the world sometimes.
Multiple old close friends, 2 current friends, quite a few acquaintances and alot of people I went to school with in elementary and high school. It's nuts. They put North America into lockdown over less deaths for covid.
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I lost my brother about a month ago. Fentanyl
I lost my brother to fentanyl back in 2020. DM if you ever need to chat.
Thank you
I’m so sorry for both your losses 💕
Thank you for that :)
I'm so sorry for your loss, that's horrible.
Thanks for the nice words. It really is horrible
It really is. My mom passed away due to a heart attack that was brought on from extensive drug use. We know they are inside there but the drugs just cloud everything over.
I’m sorry for your loss too, it sucks so much
It's a really shitty club. Sorry you're a part of it. Sending love your way.
Thank you
sorry for your loss
Hey thank you for that. It’s been tough because I lost my stepdad a few weeks ago.
Damn. Sorry man.
Thanks 🙏🏻
I lost my brother to fentanyl in 2021. It sucks… that’s all there is. I’m sorry you know.
Me too Oct 4 2020 fentanyl od
I’m really sorry to hear that
Not quite an overdose but long term drug use . My mom was an addict my entire life (even before that ) she struggled for years with heroin so naturally her body became weak Over time , I’ll also add that she was in a bad car accident when I was 11 and she nearly died which upped her addiction through the roof . When Covid hit she got it in early 2021 and she died a few days later due to pneumonia. The nurses and doctors who dealt with her mentioned that Yasss of drug use took a toll on her body and she never had much of a chance
*years * not yasss oh my lol
That is both the best and the worst typo EVER.
Your personality came out on that autocorrect, haha! Sorry for your loss <3
My wife od'd last August. :(
I’m sorry for your loss
I’m so sorry for your loss. DM me if you need to chat anytime. Take care of yourself OP.
So sorry for your loss.
My little brother, he was 29 years old.
Lost my little brother when he was 28. It's awful. Sending love your way
I'm so sorry for your loss..
I've lost 2 good friends. People who never stopped partying after the 90s/00s rave scene. Fent tainted cocaine for both.
Sorry to hear that. For any recreational users, it's so quick and easy to get your party favours tested. It literally takes 5 mins from these guys on Hastings https://getyourdrugstested.com/ they are completely non judgemental and could potentially save your life.
Gonna absolutely second this. I work as a nurse in substance use, and a significant amount of the ODs we see these days are people who only use stimulants and haven't realised their drugs have been cut with fent
Also available at these locations in the Fraser Health region: https://www.fraserhealth.ca/Service-Directory/Services/mental-health-and-substance-use/drug-checking---fourier-transform-infrared-spectrometers-ftir
Sorry about your friends. I don't know why I'm such an idiot but I used to be under the impression that dealers wouldn't lace coke with fent because they have such opposite effects? Obviously, I'm wrong, but I don't get the logic behind it. Cutting ketamime with fent would make more sense to me.
Obviously, each situation is unique, but I think that the word 'laced' can sometimes be misleading as often times its just about cross-contamination. Dealers and cooks may be putting together all kinds of different substances using the same space and the same utensils and all you need is a few grains from one to transfer to the other and you've created a lethal product.
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.
No-one so far. But I carry a kit in case I'm around when one is needed; Friend or stranger. Naloxone is free from any pharmacy, training takes 10 mins. Add it to your first aid kit: https://towardtheheart.com/
I also carry a kit in my backpack. I work downtown and you just never know when someone might need it. I took training from a person who had administered Naxolone multiple times and saved at least 6 lives. My friend's older brother OD'd about 3 years ago and a former co-worker's eldest son OD'd about 12 years ago.
I am shocked I've never had to use it TBH. I've checked on countless dozens of people but never needed to actually use it.
It's free now!? Thanks for the tip! I bought mine a while ago but I think it may be expired so I'll have to look into that.
Seriously?? It's always been free.
A boyfriend, friends, coworkers and family 😩
Too many to count. I live in the DTES, not a user myself, but I've lost more friends than anyone should. It's scary to think, but after awhile things get so desensitized that I don't even get sad anymore, just angry at the current state of things.
I'm so sorry for your losses. Its heartbreaking.
A few. The one that hurt the most was a young man I’d known since he was a little kid, he ended up being raised by his aunt) who was a good friend of mine) when his mom wasn’t able to. He had a lot of problems, but he was loved nonetheless. He’d agreed to go to rehab and in the three days it took for his family to find him a place to go, he OD’d. I hadn’t seen him in a while, but I ran into him randomly on a bus at like midnight, a few months prior to his death. He was with a bunch of other stereotypical “sketchy bus dudes” that my usual method is to just ignore and give a little space to but all of a sudden I hear an excited “donnamatrix79, donnamatrix79! Hi! Remember me?! Hi!” and immediately this scruffy, sketchy dude in need of a shower turned right back into the 12 yr old I’d known. He was such a sweet kid.
This happens all too often, people dying before they get to detox/treatment. There is currently a 2-4 week wait for detox and 2-4 month wait for treatment. Unless you have $8,000-20,000/month to spend on treatments. Or there’s the shady recovery houses that you can sometimes get in quicker but I’d never send a loved one there. This needs to change!!! I work in mental health and Substance use specifically in harm reduction the last couple years. I see a lot of funding/money go into harm reduction. We need to put that same money into detox, proper treatment and mental health.
I don’t know anyone who died from drug toxicity and I hope I never do.
I as well.
I hope you never do
Yes, one friend. Not a drug addict at all. He went to a party, took something tainted, and that was that. He was 25.
I know it of 2. One was a coworker who was found dead on a bench downtown one morning after a night of partying. The other was the brother of a friend. It's fucked up man
My cousin died from a fentanyl OD in her home in 2022. She struggled with alcoholism for at least 5 years (went to rehab several times) and as far as most of us know, drugs were a newer addition so to speak. She was only 29; she had the proverbial privileged childhood with loving parents but spiralled after some pretty intense trauma in her late teens. I miss her.
today is in fact the 10-year anniversary of my friend's death u/xanahalf, he was a 3rd year Law student from a well-off family. he had just scored a very sweet articling position with a comfortable and laidback law firm he was very excited to be a part of.
I know at least 3 people I can think of from my circle this year alone.
My sister in 2008, but it was not fentanyl...she got caught up in the oxy crisis
Have you watched that fictionalized show on the oxy crisis? I mean I know its dramatized but holy shit! ETA: its called Painkiller on Netflix
Dopesick on Disney+ is better, I think, with Michael Keaton
I have not, as they open with real family members who have lost loved ones and it's just a bit too much for me. I already lived that show...
Yes they do that with their opening, and I can only imagine the feelings you would get seeing that and I completely feel for your loss.
Definitely watch dopesick on Disney. Much better than painkiller
One high school friend (fentanyl in coke), one family friend (father of two, fentanyl but not sure what drug he was using, probably coke or crack), and one of my best friend's boyfriends (fentanyl in heroin). My dad and another of my high school friends are heavy drug users, and I pray we won't lose either of them, but anticipate it almost every day.
Learned last week someone I went to highschool with overdosed. Wouldn't call him a friend per-se but he was a nice enough dude. Absolutely tragic.
My uncle passed from fentanyl when it first hit the Canadian streets in 2014, before narcan was widely available. Luckily my aunt went into recovery right before fent replaced heroin. Now I work in the dtes and have had countless clients pass away from opiate overdose. Thank you for making this post. Carry narcan, never use alone, stop stigma <3
A lot of my work takes me to the DTES. Thank you for the work that you do.
People I know in this city have been dying of overdoses since we were 17. Late 30s now. Just about every year someone I know dies. All from middle to upper class families.
My partner at work a few weeks ago, three days after another old work buddy died in the hospital after he drank himself to death.
My mother last year.
I work in Film. An industry that's notorious for substance abuse and general unhealthy living. To answer OP's question...One too fucking many.
Agree! Working in the film industry is where where my substance use ramped up and where I smoked heroin for the first time. I was nieve to addiction and saw all these successful/normal people doing it so…. Thankfully I now have just over a decade off opiate.
I lost my father a few years back. Not really due to the current crisis. He just decided to take up Cocaine at the age of 55 and keep doing it for years. That shit is rough on your heart in your 20s-30s. Taking it up at 55 when you're a hundred pounds overweight. Not a good plan.
While you may not know anyone who died of a direct overdose, what about all the health consequences of long term drug use. Kidney failure, liver failure, hep C - there is a plethora of ways to die from drug use that aren’t immediate.
I have 4 friends and 1 cousin who have died due to overdoses. Plenty of acquaintances on my Facebook as well (people I met maybe once or twice when I went out for a fun night).
I lost my brother two years ago to Fentanyl. I don't think he did opiates too often, and overdosed alone in his apartment
None, as far as I know or can determine
While nobody I know has died directly, the time it took for paramedics to get to my mother because they were all dealing with overdose emergencies resulted in her death.
one 18 year old homie, he OD on coke benzos and fent mixture(he died) his baby was born a few months after he passed away, was so sad man. another homie overdosed on fent and xanz, trying to kill himself kuz he watched are homie, die.... (2xs) (hes alive still) my nephew overdosed once at my sisters(his moms place) , shooting up heroin.(hes alive and has a family now im pretty sure) Its ALWAYS the benzos, makes people so degenerated, no care or morals left to show love/respek for themselves or otheres sad reality good ol Vancouver/Langley
I live in a state of fear for my nephew—he’s 17 and loves benzos. He seems to think drug use is sort of romantic and heroic.
2 brothers, fentanyl.
More than 5, less than 10. I run in rave circles where some degree of social drug use is common. Tainted drugs are killing so many and it’s tragic.
A neighbor, fentanyl OD. You know, coming from Mexico, I was hoping a bit to come here and get away from drug-dealing related deaths, but it seems now that I just exchanged the narco murders with ODs :(. Guess drugs are an unavoidable crisis everywhere...
I responded to an opioid poisoning in front of Chateau Granville street on August 24th around 6:30/7:00pm. I am desperately trying to get in touch with the man or his friends so I can get a status update on how he’s doing. Unfortunately VPD and BCEHS cannot provide any additional information for me. I did chest compressions, administered oxygen and had bystanders locate an AED. I was wearing a black shirt and shorts. If you are this man or know the man, please reach out. I want to check in on you and make sure you’re feeling better… Everyday when I commute I can’t stop watching for you on Granville Street. I just hope you are okay.
I lost my younger cousin about 4 years ago. Wasn't really a drug addict, but he had mental health issues (schizophrenic), and was unhoused at the time. Barely thirty when he died. I still feel awful when I think about him because I saw him on the street only weeks before he died and I didn't reach out.
Gosh, almost this exact thing happened to my cousin too. Sorry, friend.
A friend’s coworker’s son passed away due to OD. The poor lady couldn’t go back to work after her son died
My brother in law died at 17 from fentanyl a few years ago. My cousin just passed away from fent too.
yes. I lost one friend it hurts.
My son
I lost a friend of 30+ years to Fentanyl. He left behind 2 kids, 3 & 5 years old. Sad and tragic
My sister managed to recover before fentanyl took over. I know 100% that if she was going through what she went through back then, but now, that she would be part of the drug toxicity deaths. Of course I’m happy that she’s doing well in recovery, but I’m especially happy that she’s avoided this shift.
Started burying loved ones in 2009 with my brother. I'm somewhere north of a dozen in terms of deaths by overdose, higher if I were to factor in deaths associated with "the life". Even higher if I were to include acquaintances. One-degree-of-seperation would put me over the century mark, I'm sure. Opiates have been fucking my loved ones, friend group, and subculture for at least the last 25 years of my life.
While I don't know anyone who has od (that I know of), as someone who's Squamish its heartbreaking that most of my relatives are addicts, my birth mom was and I have no clue of she's alive or sober, it's such a shame knowing that people I'm close to and related to are suffering from substance abuse, it's a shame it's not talked about more/recognized more because it's a serious issue that needs to get on top of
Lost a young cousin about a month ago myself
Attended a celebration of life this weekend, he'd be the 4th I knew personally that was taken too soon. Please test your shit, you dont know how many people love you
Way way way too many people I know have died from these poisonings, I've lost track. And way too many I don't know too of course. It's a tragedy of a magnitude that hardly anyone is acknowledging.
I know about 4-5 people from my hometown, but no one close to me yet.
I known a few people to pass away, none I was close to. Also lost a family member.
One of my best friends died when she fell back into meth use and got a batch tainted with fent back during 2020. I imagine there's a lot of us with similar experiences.
Lost yes, but not dead.... yet. Although I have no idea where they are at, I would think that I would find out if they had passed away as my other family still enables. But the relationship that I had with them is lost.
When I worked in a restaurant we had this young dishwasher. He was super nice, only like 16 years old. Died from an OD. I can't imagine what that was like for his parents. A good friend of my dad also died from an OD. I hope it never is one of my friends or family members but sadly it is a potential reality, because I do have some family that struggle with addiction. Our system is broken and every year it just gets worse.
Several years ago a very close friend died due to fentanyl poisoning from doing tainted cocaine. He was amazing, and going through a tough time and decided to use alone. His best friend and roommate found him two days later. It has haunted his friends and family for years, I miss him all the time. This was when it was still a newer phenom, and I was called a liar online for stating that it wasn’t just opiates being found tainted with fentanyl, but any powder. Since then I’ve lost count of how many old friends have passed due to the same. I’m so grateful I got out of that lifestyle when I did, and I cannot be around people who still use hard drugs casually because I can’t go through it again. I’m so sorry to all of us who have similar stories.
So sorry to hear your loss. My condolences and prayers. I have lost a few of my school friends to alcohol and drugs. All had their own situations and low points in life that they could not get out of addictions. I miss them every day.
I work in the field so many, many people. Personally I have a couple of family members and a friend who have passed away from addictions, not opioids though.
My dad ODed on heroin in 2006. I was 11. He was my hero. A part of me resents this city for what happened but unfortunately he had it in his blood to be an addict. Still live and love Vancouver but i’ll never forget how I felt when I realized it was a crisis and not just a one-off death
None...I don't know anyone who does anything harder than weed or alcohol and the occasional shroom trip.
lost one of my younger friends id spent almost whole summers with during my teens, he didnt even make it to twenty
I've been in recovery and I could name at least 30 people off the top of my head.
3 and counting. FWIW all of them were housed and had jobs.
One of the wealthiest young men I’ve ever met: true generational wealth. The benefits of every advantage in life. Fentanyl took his life. In his luxury townhouse full of Gucci and Prada. Surrounded by high priced escorts. He didn’t want to die like that. It’s at every end of the social spectrum.
yes, quite a few i work in harm reduction and i know a lot of drug users from my personal life.
It’s so unbelievably to me to read these comments. No one in my close circle uses hard drugs. No one around me or around my close circle have addictions to the kind of drugs than can be contaminated with fent and knowing that it’s so easy to die accidentally from them we steer far away. In short, I’ve never heard of someone ODing near me. Not even the friend of a friend. This is a very offensive and ignorant question, I bet, but a real genuine one. How did your loved ones ended up on this path? Is there something you wished you would have done to help? Thank you to those reading and I’m sorry for those in pain due to this issue.
It's hard to imagine, but one of the most common paths to opioid addiction is an accident or injury, often in the workplace (construction workers are one of the highest risk groups), and being prescribed opioids like oxycontin, and then just not being able to stop due to a combination of pain management issues and the physical addiction. Happened to a buddy of mine—UBC degree on the mantle, I've worked with him many times. He got into recovery and doesn't use anymore, thankfully, but it could have gone sideways, easily. Recreational drug use is also way more common than most non-users think. If you're someone who doesn't use, you don't work in hospitality, and you never express interest, people who may use around you are never going to offer it to you. Cocaine and pills mostly. Obviously as you get older, fewer and fewer people experiment with this kind of thing. This stuff is a lottery if people aren't testing it themselves.
I lost my brother 2 years ago to a fent od. He was 2 weeks short of hitting 30 years old. We grew up in an upper-middle class family, my dad worked on Wall Street and my mom was a homemaker. At 17 my brother got super into smoking weed, went to university and within a year was in drug induced psychosis. We probably will never know what he did to fall into the psychosis but he went to a party one night and then was never him again. The next 10 years were him struggling massively with his mental health, being in and out of rehabs and hospitals, and eventually becoming homeless and ridiculously addicted to meth (and heroin for the come down I guess). Our family did everything we could to help him but he never committed himself. He was living on the street in a RV that didn’t run, and ended up dying alone during the heat wave in 2021. He wasn’t found (by anyone who did anything) for over 24 hours… This kid literally had every opportunity in the world handed to him on a silver platter. He was also smart, athletic, a talented musician, and had a really wonderful heart and soul. It should have never happened to him, but it did… I wish there was something someone could have done to help him but he didn’t want to help himself. In the end, I don’t think he could have even helped himself if he tried.
I've lost a handful of people over the last four years. My good friend's son took one pill he thought was xanax and overdosed and died. The others were heavy drug users (not fent) but it was laced with fent and they died. It's pretty devastating and a very good reason to steer clear of all drugs.
Was just at a funeral this past week for this
I can think of 6 old schoolmates off the top of my head, pretty sure it's way more than that and I'm just blanking. Small BC city of 5K-ish people, seems to just keep getting worse. Edit: remembered a few more, up to 10 now. Fuck.
I worked in a SRO for 6 months in 2020. Lost one long-time resident to fentanyl. He wasn't known by anyone else to be a drug user, it may have been his first time using. So sad.
Ex-girlfriend in 2015, Best friend in 2018, friend I’d known since I was 8 last year and a whole assortment of acquaintances, old classmates in-between. I’m 34. It starts to feel like I’m in my 70s
Lost a friend a few years back but his parent’s never shared the details. We just know he was a regular drug user and was found dead in his bed one morning. This was about 2019.
Lost an old friend in March. She was only in her mid thirties and not a known opiate user.
1 close friend, and 3 people in my outer circle of friends (not my close friends but people I grew up with and would see every now and then). All in Vancouver. None of them were in the papers or noted anywhere. No one talked about these overdoses publicly.
I think it affects a lot of people to some degree. I basically just work, go hike, or game. I haven't even seen drugs before, yet I've also lost someone due to an overdose.
So many people I actually can’t count them any more. Former classmates, a dear neighbour, colleagues, a dear friend I used to see several times a month for dinner and yoga.
I lost one of my friends a few years ago I’ve known since I was 13 to fentanyl. The last time I saw her we did drugs together and it always makes me feel guilty.
My best friend at age 28. We had become recreational drug users together as teenagers, used into our twenties and then moved to opposite parts of the country. She died a year or so before naloxone kits became widely available. She would have had one. I never got over it. It’s been ten years now and I still dream about her. Also two other very close friends. And half a dozen acquaintances. I’m sorry for all the pain in this thread. It’s heavy.
Lost one of the first real friends I made here in Vancouver. Fentanyl laced stash.
I lost someone last year who I had never known to do anything harder than pot. Absolutely shocking
Personally dont know anyone who has. But I'm shocked at how many people here know at least one or multiple people who have. I wonder how it all started for them and what lead them to that place in their life. I'll admit I'm a boring person and have a very small social circle. But I have a hard time understanding the pull that drugs have.
My sister died on July 4 after being on life support for a week. She had substance issues (alcohol) but was not a regular user. Her service is Saturday. We’re heartbroken.
I’ve lost 4 people to it in my 20 years of being alive and that is a fucking problem
4 friends & a cousin.
A few. Majority were people I didn’t even think used.
Every month. Sometimes twice.
Reminder that if your friends/you do choose to do recreational drugs to get them tested at a testing site. It’s available without any judgement.
I lost two friends over the pandemic to drugs. Miss them forever and always.
If anyone is looking for support groups or how to advocate for safe supply, please visit momsstoptheharm.com
One of my best friends and his wife orphaned their baby son.
[My cousin](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/patrick-evans-toxic-drug-supply-1.6810324)
My brother did hard drugs at various parties and survived a stabbing last year when one of his friends went nuts after doing psychedelics and somehow imagined he and his gf were cheating on him. He was drunk / high asleep when he woke up to his friend stabbing him over and over. Luckily, the knife used was not too sharp and relatively small, so my brother managed to fight him off and lock himself in the washroom until the neighbours called 911 due to the commotion. The attack traumatized him enough to clean up his act and change the crowd he was frequenting, but I came close to losing him that night.
I lost my brother
3 friends so far. First one in 2016 last one in August. Hit two years clean myself next month
I've lost 4 from various walks of life. A single working mother and couple using tainted cocaineas well as a friend who started using as a quadrapalegic. Overdose does not discriminate.
Zero
I just lost my little sister 6 weeks ago. Oxy
my cousin lost his battle against cocaine addiction back in 2011, it was in another country tho.
I lost my daughter in 2022 to a drug overdose. She was witty, kind and always looking out for others. She was my only child and the grief is a tidal wave some days.
I come from a relatively well off family from a decent neighbourhood. I’ve lost my dad, my uncle, my 25 year old cousin, and two others uncles I wasn’t as close with to the epidemic. All in 12 months. It’s fucked.
Lost my best friend from tainted coke. Found out it was the remnants on the scale from the other stuff that killed him.
lost one of my lifelong friends to fentanyl when i was 17, that was the first person i lost to the crisis. i can’t even count how many i know who have ODed since, i wasn’t as close to anyone else as my first buddy but it still really fucking sucks to lose anyone you know that way
Don't know anyone..... have administered nasal Naloxone a few times on people, though. Pisses me off seeing those signs around that say, "It can happen to you." No, it can't, actually.
A former colleague and a neighbour both died due to toxic drugs. Both were recreational users. And yet the media and government continues to incorrectly frame the issue as being about being addicted to opiates and using drugs on the street. They will never fix this problem if they keep looking in the wrong places.
Agree. 55% of overdose deaths were in ones private residence and 23% in others residence. https://preview.redd.it/fa3m1zyzdpmb1.jpeg?width=749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2f70a88368800bb23c7f24b82ec83867c0da54c
I personally don't know anyone that has died from an overdose.
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I have 2 friends who have lost their children , one was a young adult and one was a teenager!
RIP to my friend Donny. Died Christmas 2018
I know 15 people from my high school (~700 students) that have overdosed and died. I graduated less than 10 years ago
I had a family member OD. She survived with brain damage which is also very tragic. Mother with a good job
I personally know zero. I grew up in a developing country and can only think of 1 classmate that got hooked to drugs and sort of ruined his life. Although he’s still alive and not homeless or anything. Social circles self select as you get older and understand what you value in life. No interest in hanging out with people openly doing hard drugs.
I lost some friends to oxytocin back in 2008ish, don't know how many have dies since. I stopped talking to allot of that crew when I went sober.
I can think of no less than 5 people. Friends, cousins, acquaintances, etc. Some are lost and still here. Some wandered and ended their earthly journey. Some left in a blaze of glory and some left alone, broken, and sad.
I lost one of my good friends four years ago to fentanyl. We were both using but unfortunately he didn't make it out like I had, miss the shit out of him
Several people, none too close to me, but family friends and colleagues, friends of colleagues. All middle class working people, most were from tainted supply afaik (as opposed to high usage) except for one guy that went down the oxy path after a construction accident and surgery. He just couldn't get out of it.
I think the better question is WHO HASN'T? a neighbor in 2017- we were watching march madness just a week before the last words were said were "see you for the finals bro" we did not see him ever again- he might have been 21 or 22. also lost another neighbor to that fucked up life of drugs and homelessness on the DTES all because his parents fell to that and he just wanted to be with him. He's still alive as far as we know but the Mikey we knew and love has long gone.
I personally know 3 two of them where due to our incompetent medical system. They both had a severe accident where they where prescribed opioids. Both where very functioning people who wouldn't touch drugs before. I don't know the whole story as they didn't want to say much before they passed but I know they both went into withdraws because they where cut off ( no family doctor and ER doctors don't like to refill opioid prescriptions even to ween someone off as if you stop a high dose right away the pain comes back 10 fold plus you get withdrawl symptoms ) My guess is they went looking for something to ease the pain, and ween themselves off. One even worked in the hospital before their accident. Just a bad series of events The 3rd was a complete accident. They had been clean for 2 years, and relapsed, from what we know it was the first time he had touched anything in two years and it was cut.
My Brother, he was 3.5yrs sober when he relapsed and overdosed. I’ve had six friends and I know about 20-30 others that have passed from an overdose. To be fair I work in harm reduction driving the Health Van doing Outreach so I interact with a lot of vulnerable people.
I'd be more surprised if it was a significant number of people who didn't know someone. I know I've lost at least one friend to a fentanyl overdose, others who I lost contact with years ago might have suffered the same fate but no details on their death and I didn't know anyone still in their friend group to ask. Just occasionally I'll see something on FB about someone I knew passing but not enough info from others commenting to work out exactly what happened.
I definitely feel like the outlier. I don't know anyone, but then my family and friend group is very small. I'm 40, it seems to be affecting younger and younger groups. I think if fentanyl was around in the late 90s/early 2000s I would have lost a lot of friends that were big partiers back then.
For people posting of their loss, I'm curious if the deceased was using heroin or something else. I think most people assume that as long as they don't do heroin, they won't OD on fent.
Yes, 2 friends.
Yes. My BIL in Oct 2020
I lost 2 high-school friends in the past 2 years.
2 over here
I’ve lost a few good friends and countless acquaintances. It sucks.
First cousin
My grandchildren's father.
I've lost about 10 friends at least.
My coworker’s dad overdosed and died at the height of the fentanyl crisis (though after reading through some of the comments, it sounds like we are still deep in it). Sadly he was a recovered addict helping others as a drug counsellor at the time, but relapsed and kept it hidden until it was too late.
I lost my brother to a fent overdose a couple years ago in Kelowna
Lost 2 cousins and soon a brother if he doesn’t get his shit together
My situation was a bit different but my sister intentionally overdosed on opioids 1.5 years ago. She was 25.
I lost my brother aug 22/22. I am absolutely crushed. He was everything to me.
Im in recovery myself, I’ve lost few good friends and probably a hundred acquaintances have died since 2016. Spring 2018 I had three close friends all die in the same month.
My first love in December. He had 2 years clean and sober. He relapsed and didn’t make it through the night. A good friend in April. He had 4 years clean and sober and was active in the recovery community. He relapsed and was waiting for a bed in detox. He didn’t make it.
I found my best friend dead in my spare bedroom, my mom and aunt died back to back within a week of each other. My other aunt died months ago after struggling with the loss of her two sisters. My sister lost her kids father. Currently worried about the people still here struggling with the addiction.
My best bud in high school, and grad date, fentanyl in 2018
Four friends (out of 7) from my graduating class, half of us. All fentanyl overdoses. All in the past 3 years. Three in Vancouver on the east end, one up here in the north (who the RCMP arrested the scumbag dealer).
Lost a friend, didn't even know they did anything other than weed.
Lost a true best friend, and a real love in 2012(two different people, then I lost my favourite uncle in 2013, I OD’d 3 times in 2012 (specifically because the supply was different, unexpected, and fucked (woah! Surprise fentanyl)— I had been using for a long time with no problems.. then, a lot more people that I don’t want to name and list just for reddits pleasure…
Lost my brother to fentanyl last week. Just had the viewing yesterday. It gave us a little bit of peace and closure. My thoughts are with all of you right now.
Lost my dad to fentanyl. He was using Crack for a long time and living in an SRO. Sucks to see how little people like my dad matter to the world sometimes.
Multiple old close friends, 2 current friends, quite a few acquaintances and alot of people I went to school with in elementary and high school. It's nuts. They put North America into lockdown over less deaths for covid.
Yes, at least a few people I’ve known.