Families seeking addiction treatment say ‘call back tomorrow’ not an acceptable response in toxic drug crisis

At an event marking B.C.’s toxic drug crisis, families shared stories of trying to find help only to be told none was available.

Jacquie Gull said she spent two full days trying to find a treatment centre to help her daughter manage an addiction to illicit drugs that eventually claimed her life.

“We called at 8 a.m., we called at 12, we called back at three, we called back at 8 p.m.,” she said.

“She was trying to save her life, she was trying to move on from this and get help.”

Monday marked International Overdose Awareness Day. In an event held in downtown Prince George, speakers said being told to “call back tomorrow” is not an acceptable response for people seeking help amid a toxic drug crisis that’s claimed thousands of lives.

Gull says her daughter, Meagan, was a mother of two young children living in Prince George. She said she turned to illicit drugs to manage chronic pain that health-care professionals dismissed.

Though Meagan was able to get into a short-term treatment program, Gull said support evaporated once she was released — and she eventually died after overdosing outside the downtown public library over the Mother’s Day weekend in 2024.

“There was nowhere for her to go into a program that was available for her in her community, because she didn’t want to leave her children,” Gull said.

Call for empathy, care

Meagan’s sister, Lauren, emphasized that addiction was not a choice, describing some of the comments she heard and read following the death.

“Nasty comments like, ‘Oh, just another OD. Why are we saving these people, why are we trying to save these people?'” she said. “That was my sister and I hate that people think she should have been left and not bothered with.”

A memorial bench unveiled at Monday’s gathering highlights the lives of people like Meagan, with a message dedicating it to the “sons, daughters, family and friends lost to the toxic drug poisoning crisis,” which the B.C. Coroners Service says has claimed more than 18,000 lives over the past decade.

Organizers also shared a petition calling for urgent treatment to be made available to people seeking help in northern B.C., rather than telling them to call back or relocate hundreds of kilometres south for care.

Eddie Thomas, an outreach worker who lost his brother, said he regularly works with clients seeking help who are told no beds are available.

“We need change from the top,” he said.

Provincial response

According to statistics gathered by the B.C. Coroners Service, northern B.C. has the highest rate of unregulated drug deaths in the province, at a rate of 48.5 per 100,000 people so far this year compared to 27.5 per 100,000 provincially.

Mayor Simon Yu said the need for more care has been a top issue for him and other council members every time they meet with provincial officials. He added that while progress has been made, “even one death is too many.”

B.C. Premier David Eby announced in June that Prince George will get a 72-bed treatment centre available for people with “serious addiction challenges” often coupled with mental health or brain injury.

However, questions have been raised about if those additional beds will be enough to meet demand. Criticism has been levelled at the fact that the facility has been referred to as an involuntary care facility when people seeking voluntary care are struggling to get treatment.

Jennifer Duff, chief operating officer for B.C. Mental Health and Substance Use Services, previously told CBC News that voluntary care will be at the heart of the new facility, more than doubling the current number of treatment beds available in Prince George.

That facility is expected to open in the next two years.