The current opioid crisis pre-dates the COVID-19 pandemic emergency and has taken more lives in 20 months than the coronavirus. Many have forgotten that this is the second medical emergency declared in response to overdose deaths in B.C.<\/p>\n
In 2018, journalist Travis Lupick<\/a> published his first book, \u2018Fighting for Space<\/a>,\u2019 that told the story of North America\u2019s first safe-injection site. For the Heart of the City Festival, Travis Lupick returns to Canada to relate that story to an online audience.<\/p>\n He reminds us that it\u2019s, \u201ca story...that takes place through the 1990s and early two-thousands, but tragically, it's more relevant today than it's ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n Lupick has spent the past couple of years looking at the overdose crisis in the United States and has a new book, 'Light Up the Night<\/a>,' coming out in the new year. In comparing the crisis in Vancouver with the U.S., Lupick says, \u201cin certain areas, places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, the numbers are just as bad as they are in Vancouver, worse in these pockets than anywhere else in the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n ---<\/p>\n