Vancouver drug users take to streets in national day of action
Protests urging federal government to change drug policy, one of several held across Canada
About 200 people marched through Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Tuesday demanding the federal government change its drug policy.
"There's a systemic aspect to this," said organizer Jordan Westfall of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD).
"If we had safe regulated drugs, nobody would have to die. We saw this happen before in the prohibition era — people dying from drinking tainted beer. Instead, we regulated alcohol and beer and that changed everything."
Over the last year, B.C. has seen a record number of overdoses.
At least 914 people died last year. Sixty per cent of those deaths involved the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Overdose deaths are now the leading cause of unnatural death in the province.
Westfall says if there was a regulated drug market, users would know what they were ingesting and overdoses could be prevented.
The Vancouver march was one of eight organized across the country on the first national day of action.
Many people brought signs and pictures of loved ones they have lost to overdoses.
Westfall says activists will continue these rallies until policy changes are made.