4 Thursday, June 1, 2017
Overdoses in schools a call to action
Vancouver Mapped
BIKE THEFT IN vANCOUVER
The number of reported bike thefts in Vancouver went down by 38 per cent in 2016, but thieves still manage to steal thousands of bikes every year. Metro asked Vancouver Police Department to compile a list of the top spots for bike theft. Granville Island as a whole nabs the top spot although Athletes Way in Olympic Village is the number one most reported location for bike thefts. Various points along the South False Creek Seawall make it onto the list as well as Chinatown. Stanley Park
education
into something. It’s just so much more potentially impactful.” In the past, he said, when educators or school counsellors learned one of their students wanted to experiment with cocaine for instance, there was likely time to act and engage David P. with the student constructively. Ball “Of course we were conMetro | Vancouver cerned,” he said. “But we didn’t As New Westminster School Dis- expect that they would risk dying trict students continue to grapple from a single exposure. Whereas with a tragedy that took the life today we really don’t know.” of one of its 16-year-old students Steinmann also manages the this week, and nearly killed an- VSB’s School Age Children and other, experts have said their Youth (SACY) initiative, a partoverdoses are a “call to action” nership between the Board and for all schools. Vancouver Coastal Health. It has Both teens overdosed on an seven “youth engagement” staff “unknown” substance they in secondary schools working wrongly believed was the party directly with youth, plus four drug MDMA, local police said. family support workers. In Vancouver, several schools It also runs a teen engagement and teachers have been issued program that builds up older stuoverdose reversal kits and dents’ capacity to offer leadership training, Metand mentorship ro has learned. to students in Several districts’ Grades 7 to 9 substance use — a proven efFeeling connected counsellors are fective strategy raising awarefor adult-leery is critical to ness of fentanyl avoiding problem teens-at-risk. overdoses, and But some substance use. changes are some teens even trained on overstill needed in Cindy Andrew dose symptoms many schools and first aid. on a policy and cultural level. Increasingly, teenagers trying “If a kid comes to school high, recreational drugs are witnessing it seems to be that’s an opporfirst-hand the devastating impact tunity for some conversation of the ongoing public health and involvement, not a punitive emergency. But with most sub- kind of response,” said Cindy Anstance use happening off school drew, Helping Schools Program grounds, what can educators do consultant at the University of to combat the crisis? Victoria’s Centre for Addictions “It is urgent,” explained Art Research of B.C. “That doesn’t Steinmann, the Vancouver mean there aren’t consequences, School Board’s manager of sub- but chances are the kid … would stance use health promotion. benefit from some nurturing of “Of course, fentanyl is odour- relationships. Feeling connected less, colourless and tasteless is critical to avoiding problem — one can’t know if it’s mixed substance use.”
Experts discuss how educators can curb risks
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West End
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Yaletown
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E. Hastings Street
E. Hastings Street
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6th. Ave
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Mt. Pleasant
1 29 Olympic Village (0 Athletes Way) 2 27 Granville Island (1600 Johnston St) 3 24 Granville Island (1400 Anderson St) 4 20 Burrard and Smithe (900 Burrard St) 5 20 Science World (1400 Quebec St)
6 18 Vancouver Technical Secondary (2600 E Broadway Ave)
7 18 Pender in Chinatown (0 W Pender St) 8 16 South False Creek Seawall (600 Stamps Land)
9 16 Sunset Beach (1700 Beach Ave) 10 13 Templeton Park (700 Templeton Dr) 11 11 Vancouver Public Library (300 W Georgia St)
12 11 Keefer in Chinatown (100 Keefer St)
crisis
Nearly five people die daily from opioids Jen St. Denis
Metro | Vancouver “It’s so demoralizing,” admitted Leslie McBain, whose son Jordan, 25, died of an illicit drug overdose three years ago. “And it’s just getting worse.” British Columbia’s illicit drug overdose epidemic reached new grim records Wednesday. Overdose deaths in April are the second highest ever recorded with 136 killed — nearly double April’s deaths last year. The numbers mean that near-
ly five British Columbians died from drug overdoses every day in April across the province. “For all of us who work in advocacy for policy changes, for all the front-line workers and people doing evidence-based research to move things forward, this stops us in our tracks,” said McBain, cofounder of Moms Stop the Harm and family engagement lead at St. Paul’s Hospital’s B.C. Centre on Substance Use. “We’ve been working so hard on this especially in the last year since B.C. declared an emergency. What’s making this happen? It is the black market and the war on
drugs.” B.C.’s hard drug market has become contaminated with the painkiller fentanyl, and its evendeadlier successors carfentanil and furanylfentanyl, which the B.C. Coroners Service said is the main reason behind the spike in deaths. This year, 488 people have died of overdoses, and if the trend continues could reach 1,464 by the end of year — a nearly 60 per cent increase from 2016. Efforts to fight the epidemic haven’t succeeded in bringing the numbers down. But chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said no deaths have occurred at Vancouver’s two
supervised injection sites, Insite and the Dr. Peter Centre, neither has anyone died at overdose prevention sites opened across B.C. “I strongly urge those using illicit drugs to do so only at a safe consumption site or drug overdose prevention site, if one is accessible,” said Lapointe. “If one of these sites is not accessible, please use only a small amount of the drug initially and only in the presence of someone willing and able to administer naloxone and call 911 if required. The risks associated with all illicit drugs in the province are extreme.” with files from david P. Ball/metro
Join us for a greenhouse farm tour on Saturday, June 3rd! Ever wonder where your local veggies come from? Step behind the glass for an inside look at these greenhouse farm tours between 10-2pm Westcoast Greenhouses 3975 46A St., Delta
Topgro Greenhouse 1110 – 264 St., Langley
Sunnyside Greenhouses 1119 – 176 St., Surrey
Randhawa Farms 33677 Hallert Rd.,Abbotsford
Find more event details at bcgreenhouse.ca