International Overdose Awareness Day Marked in Trail

Issued on behalf of the Trail Community Action Team

For Immediate Release

TCAT Honours Unsung Heroes of the Toxic Drug Crisis
Event:  Saturday, August 26, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at Trail IncrEDIBLE Farmers' Market

Trail, BC - Local communities in British Columbia and around the world are coming together at the end of August to remember those who have died or suffered permanent injury due to the toxic drug supply. The Trail Community Action Team (TCAT) is hosting an information booth at the Trail IncrEDIBLE Market on Saturday, August 26, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We will offer information and training on the use of Naloxone at the market.

In recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD), the City of Trail will light its bridge in purple, the colour used to mark the toxic drug epidemic.

Since the BC government declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in 2016, 157 people have died of toxic drugs in Kootenay-Boundary, 28 of them in Trail. Across Canada, almost 40,000 people have died from toxic drugs since January of 2016. In the past year, an average 20 deaths per day occurred, up from 10 per day in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For each of these deaths, there are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends who have suffered and continue to suffer the loss of their loved one,” notes Tammy McLean, a nurse practitioner and member of TCAT.  

 On this day of remembrance, TCAT also wants to honour those people who may be unseen, but whose lives have been irrevocably changed by toxic drugs. They are the outreach and shelter workers, the healthcare and support providers, first responders, and bystanders, friends and family members who extend their strength and compassion to people who use drugs, and often are the ones who selflessly save lives on a regular basis. Diana Daghofer, co-chair of the TCAT echoes the words of IOAD organizers, saying, “Theirs are the voices we should amplify, and their strength and experience should be held up as examples to us all. Too often, however, they are left to bear the burden of this crisis alone and in silence.”

Observed on August 31 every year, IOAD seeks to create better understanding of drug toxicity, reduce the stigma of drug-related deaths, and create change that reduces the harms associated with drug use.  By holding an event this year, the people of Trail are joining a global movement for understanding, compassion and change.

International Overdose Awareness Day is convened by Penington Institute, an Australian not-for-profit. A full list of the IOAD 2023 events currently planned around the world can be found at: https://www.overdoseday.com/events-2023/

MEDIA CONTACT: Diana Daghofer, email; 250-512-2126.