The es zumín’ Primary Care Centre in Mount Currie is officially a registered naloxone take-home site, expanding access to the life-saving opioid antidote in the Lil’wat community.
The designation means the centre can now provide free naloxone kits and training through the provincial Take Home Naloxone program. Operated in partnership with the Southern Stl’atl’imx Health Society (SSHS), the service is available Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 321 IR #10 Road, Mount Currie.
Naloxone is a medication that temporarily reverses the effects of opioids on the central nervous system. It can restore breathing that has been slowed or stopped by substances such as fentanyl, heroin, methadone, morphine or hydromorphone. By reversing overdoses, naloxone helps prevent long-term brain injury and death.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control’s Toward the Heart program, any site that distributes naloxone must first register and receive approval to provide training and supply kits. Once approved, facilities are listed in the province’s Take Home Naloxone Site Finder.
The SSHS designation comes on the heels of the St’át’imc Nations—Lil’wat included—declaring a local emergency over toxic drugs.
More than 16,000 deaths from contaminated drugs have been reported since the province first declared a toxic drug crisis in 2016.
First Nations Health Authority reports show that in 2024, 427 Indigenous people died from poisonous drugs, at a rate 6.7 times higher than the rest of the province’s population. In 2024, the District of Lillooet, located within unceded traditional St’át’imc territory, reported the second-highest toxic drug death rate in the province at 116 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Naloxone is available in British Columbia without a prescription. The BC Take Home Naloxone program supplies kits with three doses of injectable naloxone.
More information on naloxone and a full list of take-home sites across the province can be found at towardtheheart.com. Toxic drug alerts can be found on the same site. For alerts in your health authority, text JOIN to 253787.
