Toxic drug response in Surrey called ‘lost opportunity’

B.C. declared the toxic drug crisis a public health emergency in 2016 and a decade later, Fraser Health has released a report outlining and reflecting the health system’s response and what was discovered over the years. 

But a local advocate says not enough is being done to help Surrey residents.

According to the report, since 2016 and as of February 2026, more than 5,600 people have died from toxic drug poisoning in the Fraser Health region that includes Surrey. 

Several groups were highlighted as being disproportionately affected, including unhoused people, trades and transport industry workers, Indigenous communities and the South Asian community. 

Over the years, Fraser Health has implemented many changes, such as distributing take-home naloxone kits in emergency departments, opening overdose prevention sites and launching an overdose outreach team among other things.  

Surrey has a range of support and centres available and has also seen some expansions in these services. The report also outlines the continuum of care that has been developed over the years, but Justine Patterson, CEO of Phoenix Society, said Surrey’s system is not centering the people it’s meant to serve. 

Operating for over 35 years, Phoenix Society is an organization that supports people struggling with substance abuse, mental health, housing and employment with a location across from Surrey Memorial Hospital.

Prior to joining Phoenix Society, Patterson worked at the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and helped lead the response to the overdose emergency. She commended the vital investments the government and Fraser Health has made into things like prevention sites, harm reduction efforts and naloxone distribution, but worries it is not easy for someone to move through the continuum. 

For Patterson, this looks like someone being able to easily go from an overdose prevention site to a recovery-based housing program and into treatment.

“People need to be able to move back and forth freely, and actually people can’t,” she said. 

In 2023, the provincial government implemented the road to recovery model. The approach saw partnerships between Providence Healthcare, B.C. Housing and the B.C. Centre of Substance Use and worked to create an integrated system of care so people could effectively move between it. Patterson explained that while all the parts — like rapid access clinics, withdrawal management services, recovery based housing — are in place, it is difficult to move between them. 

“The work that we need to do now is … creat[ing] systems that are actually person-centered. Because we know over time [when] someone has a transition point in that system, they’re more likely to get loss of care, and in the context of a toxic drug supply, loss of care often means death.”

When speaking to people who have lost a loved one to the crisis, Patterson said they often have similar stories of challenges getting the right support and the right time, and these hurdles leading to a fatal outcome. 

“We have a lost opportunity in Surrey. We are so well-positioned to have a road to recovery model to really support that seamless transition, and we haven’t done it,” she said. 

Patterson said Phoenix Society also works to recognize social determinants that can negatively impact people’s health such as housing. According to the report, toxic drug poisoning is the leading cause of death amongst unhoused people — it pinpoints stable and safe housing as a key part of combatting the crisis. 

It also notes that there exists a common belief that substance use can cause homelessness, but that connection can go both ways.

“The trauma, instability and exposure to street environments during homelessness can also initiate or intensify substance use as a coping or adaptive response to distress and trauma,” reads the report. 

The South Asian community is also at higher risk of being affected by this crisis, as discovered in a 2019 Fraser Health report. 

The current report writes that the overall impact is under-researched, but several factors may be contributing to this such as family expectations, heightened stigma and potential language barriers. 

In 2013, Fraser Health established the South Asian Health Institute (SAHI) to improve health equity for South Asians across the Fraser region. About 38 per cent of Surrey’s population is South Asian.

Anosha Afaq, who leads SAHI, explained that through community engagement, health promotion, education partnerships and cultural consultation, the organization aims to understand systemic barriers and make information more accessible. Afaq added that the scope of SAHI has expanded from chronic disease prevention to include mental health, the toxic drug crisis and more. 

“South Asian communities have been impacted by the toxic drug crisis, but due to stigma and language barriers, as well as a lot of cultural perceptions, it can sometimes get harder for families to access that information, so SAHI’s role has really been to help bridge that gap,” she said. 

In 2023 and 2024, SAHI helped lead a multilingual toxic drug crisis awareness campaign in Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi. “There was social media content, as well as posters, and the goal was really to not only share the information but to really normalize conversations around substance use,” said Afaq.

She explained SAHI hosts Sehat — meaning health in different South Asian languages — sessions where they partner with experts and clinical teams in a specific matter and bring that “content to culturally relevant spaces where communities can come together.”  

One such partnership included the Roshni Clinic. Launched in 2017 and based in Surrey, the clinic provides support to South Asian people struggling with substance use with services in Punjabi, Hindi and English. 

Part of normalizing these conversations has also been normalizing harm reduction efforts. Harm reduction is an approach aimed at minimizing negative effects of substance use, which can include things like checking drugs, overdose prevention sites and providing safe and sterile supplies to name a few. However, unlike recovery, harm reduction does not necessarily mean someone will completely stop using substances.

Patterson said that over time a false dichotomy has emerged of a choice between harm reduction and recovery, but explained people need access to both and the two are not opposing approaches. 

“The question isn’t whether or not we should have one or the other. The question is, do people have the right support at the right time when they need it.”

Over the years, Patterson added that they have seen a greater complexity of people needing support. “We’re seeing more complex substance use patterns and histories, and our system … is not designed to support that level of complexity, and so if we’re not continuing to invest, the complexity is going to outpace us.” 

Patterson worries that initiatives designed to support services may be discontinued like complex care housing, leading providers with less resources despite the greater complexity of care needed. Surrey City Council blocked a housing project that included supportive and complex-care housing in 2025 after some community backlash. 

In the future, Patterson said she hopes Phoenix Society can “help break down some of the system barriers of people being able to navigate across the system.” She said government, health authorities and community partners ultimately need to come together to be part of the solution in Surrey. 

A sentiment echoed by Afaq who said partnerships with organizations is key to their work “It is truly due to the teams that are also there through collaboration that we’re able to make a lot of the work happen,” she said.  

“None of us are going to solve this on their own … we could be doing more with greater partnerships. We can achieve more together,” said Patterson.