A synthetic drug called fentanyl has increased the drug crisis in Canada to such an extent that the city of Vancouver has become the worst city in world. The streets here have been taken over by drug addicts. The drug has become so common that it can be found on the street.
Vancouver, Canada once topped the list of the world's most favourite cities to live in. It has been identified as a city which is situated on the banks of nature. But today Vancouver has been so engulfed by drugs that even America's drug crisis appears small in comparison.There are thousands of victims of drug addiction in the city of Vancouver in British Columbia. The condition is such that even walking a kilometre in the Downtown Eastside of the city is appalling. Drug addicts will be seen sitting near trees on the roadside. There are discarded needles everywhere.
The drug is 50 times more powerful than heroin
The crisis is furled by a synthetic drug called fentanyl, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin. Fentanyl, made in many illegal laboratories 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 decriminalised in public. These include fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy.Even the police are unable to stop it
Has become leading cause of deaths
In June this year, Vancouver police got the right to arrest drug addicts in hospitals, restaurants, parks and beaches, but people are still able to legally consume 2.5 grams of drugs at home. One difficulty for the police is that it is not yet clear how to implement the revised rules.Despite the administration's efforts, 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 from murder, 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.