An outreach team is stationed throughout Nanaimo Monday to Thursday, assisting those in need of supplies and sustenance. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

grim anniversary

Nearly 200 lives lost in Nanaimo by fifth anniversary of illicit substance crisis

Apr 14, 2021 | 12:48 PM

NANAIMO — April 14, 2021 is a grim day for Nanaimo peer worker Jessy Knight.

“I woke up crying, with this heaviness and grief in my heart,” she told NanaimoNewsNOW. “I’m mostly just taking this day to sit and remember the people I love who were unfairly taken too young because of failed policy, because there wasn’t enough response or care for people who used drugs.”

The date is the fifth anniversary of B.C.’s government declaring a public health emergency about the ongoing overdose crisis.

Since 2016, 192 people fatally overdosed in Nanaimo. The crisis reached a peak in 2018 before briefly subsiding in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic took a drastic toll on substance users.

2020 was the second worst year on record for the city.

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To mark the anniversary, mental health and addictions minister Sheila Malcolmson announced her ministry will follow through on a key aspect of her mandate by asking for an exemption from Health Canada to decriminalize personal possession of drugs.

Knight said it’s a needed initiative but worried about how long it will take.

“I think it will be a long, drawn out process that will likely get a lot of support and votes but will be a long time before it actively benefits anyone. But I think setting that standard is a really good place to start to normalize substance abuse. Not all substance use is irregular, irrational or life destroying.”

The province and Health Canada are now working on an agreement about how to apply for the exemption.

Malcolmson said key issues for consideration are “defining simple possession, determining allowable drug amounts and ensuring the readiness of law enforcement, health and social services to support decriminalization.”

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On Twitter: @SpencerSterritt