Olivia Dalton had been sober for over a year. Then the pandemic hit, she lost her job, relapsed and overdosed

A Langley, B.C., family is pushing the province to increase supports for young drug users, saying their daughter's recent drug overdose death could have been prevented.

Late last month, 21-year-old Olivia Dalton died of a fentanyl overdose.

On Monday, her parents, John Butler and Lisa Dalton, met at North Langley Community Church to plan her funeral.

"She had this spirit that was just so amazing," said Dalton, 58. "Anyone that knew her, absolutely loved her."

Olivia's substance issues began in high school when, according to her parents, she started using heroin.

"Her whole personality changed," said Butler, 60, "She became violent. She wasn't interested in school. She would sleep all day."

After several confrontations, the parents say, Olivia agreed to enter addictions counselling. Butler estimates the family spent $100,000 on her treatment and eventually Olivia started to thrive. She managed to stay sober for more than a year.

Then, the pandemic hit.

Concurrent health crises

Butler and Dalton say COVID-19 caused Olivia's support group meetings to be cancelled. She relapsed and then lost her job. Soon, she was using alone in her apartment.

That's where Butler found her body on Oct. 22.

"My whole world just crushed at that moment," he said. "Ever since then ...  it's just been one bad day after another."

The year 2020 has seen a sharp spike in illicit drug overdose deaths, with 1,202 people killed as of September. The total number dead in 2019, in comparison, was 983.

Throughout the pandemic, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has acknowledged B.C. is dealing with concurrent health crises, often urging drug users to have their supply checked at a supervised injection site, and to never use alone. In September, she issued an order allowing registered and psychiatric nurses to write prescriptions for safer drugs, in hopes of providing a better alternative.

Dalton, though, says more needs to be done.

She wants the province to increase resources for young people at the start of their addiction and for officials to green-light a safe supply.

Limited resources stretched thin

Addictions experts say the pandemic has proven challenging for people in recovery.

"When this thing first started, we saw a number of our clients and people we work with relapse after long periods of sobriety" said Evan James, team lead at Victoria's Umbrella Society.

He says he's frustrated with the government's response, arguing the opioid epidemic receives less attention than COVID-19, despite contributing to far more deaths. The pandemic, he adds, has also strained many of the limited resources available to drug users. In particular, he says, detox beds have become less available, due to physical distancing protocols.

Butler, meanwhile, has written a letter to Premier John Horgan urging him to crackdown on drug dealers, in hopes that other families might be spared his grief.

"She was only 21," he said. "She didn't deserve this."