Local organizations say Prince George drug death stats encouraging, but too early to celebrate

Wells explained the Pounds Project has seen a big rise in tranquilizers and benzodiazepines in the unregulated opioid supply, fundamentally changing how these drugs impact people. Because of this, she says a drug overdose can look different than it used to, which may be a factor in the unregulated drug death number being lower in 2025 compared to 2024.

“When people have an overdose they might not fully stop breathing, like you would from just a straight opiate overdose. They might be super sedated for hours or days at a time instead. So even though people might not be dying from the overdoses as much, there can still be lots of harm being caused,” Wells said.

“Even though there might be fewer people having fatal opiate overdoses or drug poisonings, there’s still a lot of other really bad harms that are happening because the drug supply is so bad,” she continued.

While both Wells and Madanayake emphasize 66 deaths this year is too many, they do acknowledge there is reason for hope and encouragement, saying this could be a reflection of harm reduction efforts.

“Naloxone kits are widely distributed, and safe supplies are also widely available in the community right now. And also I feel like the community collaboration, because we are not doing this alone. We are not the only organization who provides these services and education. There are so many other organizations, community organizations, health authorities, even individuals who really want to advocate, especially the family members of the people who have been lost to this toxic drug crisis,” Madanayake said.

“There’s been so many wonderful harm reduction services. People were on safe supply and stuff like that, and studies do show that really lowers people’s risk of fatal overdose,” Wells added.

As the community moves forward and continues to try to find ways to address the drug crisis, Madanayake highlighted the importance of education, awareness, and destigmatization. She adds it’s especially important to focus on youth education and supports, which could go a long way towards addressing any root issues.

“There is a trend among young people to get more into addictions than the older adults, so we really need to save our young people. We need to work on expanding youth prevention services and housing support,” Madanayake said.

As for Wells, she believes the decriminalization of drugs played a positive role in helping people access more supports and remove stigma, and was disappointed the province did not renew this program. She believes a return to this could be a great benefit to save lives, and she adds she also hopes safe supply is expanded to include prescribed alternatives like methadone and hydromorphone, among others.

“If that was expanded significantly, that would definitely help a lot, because then people wouldn’t have to rely on the contaminated unregulated supply,” Wells said.

Both Wells and Madanayake encourage anyone to reach out if they are interested in any programs, education, or want more information about what the organizations provide. Positive Living North is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, and the Pounds Project’s hours are the following:

Drop in Centre: 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Tuesday to Friday
Drug testing: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday
Additional open time: 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

by Tommy Osborne

Local organizations say Prince George drug death stats encouraging, but too early to celebrate

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