More than 100 people gather in New Westminster, B.C., to learn how to administer naloxone

In honour of International Overdose Awareness Day, a New Westminster non-profit hosted what they're describing as the world's largest naloxone training session.

The Purpose Society invited people from all over the Lower Mainland to join them at Moody Park on Aug. 31 to learn how to save a life.

According to the organization, 150 participants had registered for the nearly four-hour event, where they learned how to administer naloxone — medication that can temporarily save lives by reversing an opioid overdose, buying time until emergency responders show up.

According to data released by the B.C. Coroners Service on Tuesday, 198 British Columbians have died from toxic drugs in July, bringing the death toll in the first seven months of 2023 to 1,455 — the most amount of deaths to be reported in the first seven months by the coroners service, since the public health emergency was declared in 2016. 

Lynda Fletcher-Gordon, interim executive director of the Purpose Society, said the training event is an opportunity for people to come together and remember the lives lost, and "to equip themselves to do more in the community."

In a news release Wednesday morning, Jennifer Whiteside, minister of mental health and addictions who later attended event, said "deaths from the toxic-drug crisis can be prevented. However, stigma and fear of judgment too often force individuals into the shadows."

Fletcher-Gordon says she hopes through the naloxone training, community members would gain the tools needed to feel more comfortable approaching situations where people are in need of help. 

The society reached out to the Guinness World Records about the possibility of having the event recognized as a world record. They said they have not heard back yet.

Regardless, Fletcher-Gordon says "those of us who are on the front lines see the devastation that these drugs are having and we just wanted to do something that would make a statement."