Now in his late 50s, he’s an overdose survivor who has beaten back his demons. But his past has taken a toll on his body, leaving his back bent at an impossible angle, and surgery out of reach.
Lampkin has lost count of the friends he’s lost to overdoses and organ failure.
The opioid crisis has claimed more than 13,000 lives in his province since 2016. On Nov. 1, the B.C. Coroners Service confirmed another 175 suspected deaths in September. That’s 10 per cent less than died in Sept. 2022, but still 5.8 drug deaths per day, with most deaths reported in Vancouver, Surrey and Greater Victoria.
Of the 225,000 British Columbians using unregulated substances, fewer than 5,000 receive safe supply prescriptions, according to provincial data.
Opioid overdoses have claimed 38,514 lives in Canada in the past seven years, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. Many others survive, like Lampkin, but are left with injuries or chronic health issues that then hinder their rehabilitation.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Coroners death review panel urged the government to expand safer supply access to save lives and prevent injuries.
Brian Conway, director of Vancouver’s Infectious Disease Centre, says there are 500 or more hospitalizations per day across Canada as a result of overdoses and many more involving infections that can be introduced where an injection pierces the skin that can then spread to the blood, heart, brain or bones.
Conway works at the Vancouver Urban Health Centre on Main Street, where he offers medical care for people often failed by traditional hospitals.
And Volkow says new dangers are spiking right now in the U.S. where a non-addictive drug called Xylazine (often referred to as “Tranq”) — which affects the vascular system and blood vessels — is often found combined with opioids like fentanyl.
Xylazine is showing up in small amounts in Vancouver, according to the dashboard that logs drug testing for the BC Centre on Substance Abuse.
Volkow says the weakening of the skeletal system and osteoporosis are more common problems; made worse because spinal surgery, like organ transplants, are rarely offered to long-time drug users.
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