From Steveston to Hamilton, Richmond Fire-Rescue is responding to suspected drug poisonings and overdoses.
While the BC Coroners Service hasn’t released statistics yet on how many people died in Richmond in November, the fire department in Richmond updated city council's community safety committee on where they responded to suspected drug poisonings during that month.
These events are largely located in city centre and near the Oak Street bridge, where numerous people are living in tents.
However, drug poisonings appear in almost every neighbourhood of Richmond, with Richmond Fire-Rescue responding to 23 in November.
There were two suspected drug poisonings in Hamilton in November and one in Steveston. There were also two in the Terra Nova area with others sprinkled around the city.
Suspected drug poisonings in city centre numbered six, while there were four near or under the Oak Street Bridge, close to the river.
At the meeting, Coun. Kash Heed said the map was “valuable information,” showing a cluster around the Alderbridge modular home, a temporary supportive housing building.
”This is very worthwhile, especially if we start looking at other measures in Richmond that we need for the open-air drug use, for the consumption of illicit drugs in public places,” Heed said.
The latest statistics from the BC Coroners Service show there 20 suspected drug poisoning deaths in Richmond in the first 10 months of 2023, with four in October alone.
Across the province, 2,039 people died from suspected drug poisonings between January and October 2023.
In a report to city council, Richmond Fire-Rescue noted eight poisonings in November appeared to be from opioids and other drugs, five were from alcohol but for 10 cases, they didn’t have information as they were dealt with by BC Ambulance.
