B.C. government releases guidelines to protect students from overdoses on campus

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The B.C. government released new guidelines to prevent harm or death from drug overdoses on post-secondary campuses. 

The guidelines from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills encourage post-secondary institutions to provide awareness materials during welcome week, use existing apps with resources for students, and suggest training for campus security. 

Post-secondary institutions are also encouraged to create a publicly available overdose prevention and response plan, and make sure students know they can contact the proper help without repercussions. 

As part of this rollout, the government is providing nasal naloxone to all B.C. public post-secondary institutions and First Nations-mandated institutes.

In 2023, 50 per cent of deaths among B.C. residents aged 19 to 39 were due to illicit drug toxicity, according to the guidelines. In a recent B.C. coroners service report, unregulated drug toxicity was “the leading cause of unnatural death among youth” in the province from 2019 to 2023. 

“It was a huge announcement and something that we’ve been asking for for a while,” says Cole Reinbold, secretary-treasurer of the BC Federation of Students (BCFS). 

“The BC Federation of Students commends the government for acting on the absolutely urgent need to raise awareness of how the toxic drug crisis impacts campus communities.” 

In response to the provincial guidelines, KPU now has two naloxone kits available at each campus. These boxes are for emergency use only and are alarmed to alert university responders, a KPU announcement to students reads. 

“KPU is working with health authorities to provide overdose prevention and response training for students and employees,” the announcement reads. 

B.C.’s post-secondary overdose prevention and response steering committee was formed in May 2024, the same time a student’s death from an overdose at the University of Victoria made headlines. 

The committee was developed to “review existing policies, identify gaps, and establish and implement leading practices in overdose prevention and response at all of B.C.’s public post-secondary institutions,” a ministry spokesperson wrote in an email statement to The Runner. 

Around the same time, BCFS called for naloxone training on campuses, and for post-secondary institutions to make the kits as accessible as fire extinguishers.  

The guidelines are meant to be used as a resource for post-secondary institutions, however colleges and universities are not beholden to them and are not legally binding. 

“They are guidelines, but it’s a strong guideline,” Reinbold says. 

“A lot of it is suggestions and it suggests to include information in campus welcome packages, but I hope that institutions don’t stop there. I really hope that they make social media posts, have posters around campus, and are also connecting with student unions about it, because it needs to be a wraparound support.” 

They also say that campuses can go that step further by having a mandatory training and information online course for students because a lot is thrown at them in the first week of a semester, and things like information on naloxone can easily be forgotten. 

“It shouldn’t just stop at one little pamphlet that you have in your welcome week bag that you’re probably going to recycle. It needs to be from the moment you set foot on campus on the first day … until you graduate,” Reinbold says. 

In the email to The Runner, a ministry spokesperson wrote the steering committee will continue to meet to work towards making campuses safer, and they know more still needs to be done to combat the drug supply epidemic. 

“It comes down to what each institution individually wants to do,” Reinbold says. 

“Only time will tell which institutions are really focused on the protection of students with naloxone.”