FILE PHOTO - A Naloxone kit is pictured in this undated file photo. Moms Stop the Harm is calling residents to rally for drug overdose prevention and government action.

(BRENDAN KERGIN / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops residents are being called to bring signs and noisemakers to a rally this week in an effort to bring attention to the overdose crisis.

The rally, run by Moms Stop the Harm, is a mirror of the same action happening in Vancouver and Victoria, Thursday, Feb. 10.

“We want attention,” Kamloops Moms Stop the Harm advocate Sandra Tully said. “We want people to stop and ask for information. This is happening in our community and we need to address it.”

A record 1,716 people died in relation to an illicit drug overdose in B.C. in 2020. The numbers for last year are being released by the B.C. Coroner’s Service on Thursday, and Tully predicts they will be even higher.

She said the rally on Thursday aims to inform the public and push government leaders to take more action.

“We feel our government is not doing enough to address this health crisis,” she said. “If it doesn’t affect someone personally it is as if it doesn’t matter. We need a committee of all political parties to sit at the table and say how we can address this.”

READ MORE: iN VIDEO: New documentary focuses on opioid crisis in Kamloops

The opioid crisis is a result of multiple complex factors, and is claiming lives at an increasing rate every year since the province declared a state of emergency in 2016.

Rally organizer Glenn Hilke said enough is enough, things are getting worse.

“The only pathways to fewer lost lives and less harm from overdoses is a combination of a safe supply, decriminalization and treatment,” he said. “The stigma of using illicit drugs still prevails. We have to grow up and accept the society we live in while getting real criminals off the street that are providing the toxic drugs and killing our community members.”

Moms Stop the Harm is calling residents to rally for drug overdose awareness.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Moms Stop the Harm

Tully has been an advocate for Moms Stop the Harm in Kamloops since she tragically lost her son, Ryan, to an overdose six years ago when he took half a pill of oxycontin that was laced with fentanyl.

READ MORE: 5 years into the opioid crisis, Kamloops advocates continue work to 'end the stigma'

Moms Stop the Harm is asking people to people to join the rally and bring along friends at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, at one of two locations, outside MLA Peter Milobar’s office at 618 Tranquille Rd. and outside MLA Todd Stone’s office at 446 Victoria St.

Moms Stop the Harm is a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-use related harms and deaths. They advocate to change failed drug policies and provide peer support to grieving families and those with loved ones who use or have used substances.

For more information about the rally call Glenn Hilke at 250-879-0465 or email info@momsstoptheharm.com.

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