Health officials will battle British Columbia's ongoing overdose crisis this year with new overdose response centres and a planned pilot project that will distribute clean opioids to drug users.
More than 1,900 people have died of illicit drug overdoses in B.C. since the province declared a public health emergency nearly two years ago.
Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, said the new Overdose Emergency Response Centre will launch five new regional teams across the province this January.
The teams will focus on supporting people at risk of overdose, addressing the unsafe drug supply, expanding harm reduction services and increasing the availability of naloxone.
"We also do want to try and get as many people as possible off illegal drugs and onto a legal alternative," Daly told CBC host of The Early Edition Stephen Quinn.

'Clean' opioids 

Last year, fentanyl was found in four out of five overdose deaths and new contaminants, like carfentanil, are becoming more prevalent.
"These are illegal drugs, there is no quality control," Daly said. "Fentanyl has really almost replaced heroin in the opioid supply."
Dr. Mark Tyndall at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control recently announced plans for a pilot project to give clean opioids, in the form of prescription hydromorphone pills, to at-risk drug users as an alternative to street drugs starting in April.
The pills are cheap, costing 32 cents each, and can be self-administered by crushing, dissolving and injecting them.
The Early Edition
Dr. Patricia Daly on plans and strategies to battle overdose crisis in 2018