2024-09-12 06:13:27
Ottawa: Vancouver in Canada was once on the top of the list of the world’s most preferred cities to live in. It has been known as a city that is located on the edge of nature. But today Vancouver has been so engulfed by drugs that even America’s drug crisis looks small in front of it. There are thousands of drug addicts in Vancouver city in British Columbia. The situation is such that even walking a kilometer in the city’s downtown eastside is terrifying. Drug addicts can be seen sitting on the roadside, leaning against trees. There are discarded needles everywhere.
The drug is 50 times more powerful than heroin
The crisis is fueled by a synthetic drug called fentanyl, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin. Fentanyl, made in many illegal labs in the backwoods of Canada, has become so common in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that you can pick it up off the street. The crisis began when the possession of certain drugs was decriminalized in public. These include fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy.
Even the police are unable to stop it
In June this year, Vancouver police got the power to arrest drug addicts at hospitals, restaurants, parks and beaches, but people are still able to legally possess up to 2.5 grams of drugs at home. One difficulty for police is that it is not yet clear how to enforce the revised rules. Despite all the efforts of the administration, drug overdose has become the leading cause of death for people aged 10 to 59 in British Columbia. According to a July report in the Telegraph, this figure was higher than deaths due to homicide, suicide, accidents and natural diseases.
Last year, 2,511 drug overdoses were reported in British Columbia, 87 per cent of which were caused by fentanyl. Vancouver’s fentanyl death rate is 56 per 100,000 people, almost three times the national average. In the Downtown Eastside, the rate is 30 times higher than the rest of the country.