Island Festivals like Tall Trees in Port Renfrew and Rifflandia in Victoria say they will be taking extra precautions in the face of B.C.'s opioid crisis.
Nick Blasko, organizer of Rifflandia says they'll also be stepping up harm reduction measures for the September 14-17 event. "Given the state of these type of drugs that are on the street right now I don't think there's any alternative. I think you have to provide a degree of harm reduction and if testing is what makes sense you have to go deep into that."
B.C.’s Chief Coroner says people taking party drugs can actually be at more risk than heavy users, because they may think they’re not in danger from casual drug use. "These people are dying in significant numbers so for people going to concerts my first piece of advice is, don't use drugs, that's the safest thing you can do."
So far this year, 488 people in the province have died from fatal overdoses, 37 of them in Victoria.