This Vancouver man opened a store selling tested cocaine and heroin. Then he died of an overdose

Krista Thomas stands on the intersection of Main and Cordova streets in Vancouver where her late partner, Jerry Martin, once set up a mobile store selling tested heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs.

Martin, 51, died Friday following a suspected fentanyl overdose, according to Thomas, who is still in shock.

"Right now it's still pretty surreal," Thomas told CBC News on Monday. "I haven't had time to process what has actually happened."

Martin made national and international headlines in May of this year after he was arrested for opening his drug store. He wanted to give people a safer supply of drugs as the toxic drug crisis continued to kill hundreds of people in B.C. each month.

Thomas said she received a call from police last Tuesday saying Martin had been found unresponsive in a vehicle and was being transported to hospital. Police called back about 10 minutes later to say Martin was stable and had a heartbeat.

But Martin's condition worsened, Thomas said, and he was put into a medically induced coma. CT scans showed he had significant brain damage believed to be caused by a drug overdose, Thomas said.

"He would have really just had very primitive functions, maybe swallowing, breathing, coughing. It became very apparent that the quality of life that Jerry would have wanted wasn't there anymore," Thomas said.

She and Martin's mother decided to end his suffering and pull him off life support. 

WATCH | Krista Thomas discusses Jerry Martin's last days: 

Jerry Martin’s partner talks about the days leading up to his death

1 year ago

Duration 1:12

Krista Thomas, the partner of the late Jerry Martin, an activist who briefly opened a mobile store selling illicit drugs, tells the CBC’s Yasmine Ghania that Martin struggled with mental health issues before he died.

'Tremendous tragedy'

Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.'s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, sent her condolences to Martin's family in a statement to CBC Monday.

"Every life lost to the toxic drug supply is a tremendous tragedy — impacting family, friends and community," the statement said, adding "this unrelenting toxic drug crisis demands that we use all of the tools in our toolbox to save lives and give people a chance to connect to the care they need."

Martin's loved ones and drug activists are pointing out the tragic irony in Martin's overdose death, as he wanted to prevent deaths by providing a safer drug supply.

The Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), a Vancouver-based organization, has also been trying to give people tested illicit drugs. For the past nine months, the organization has been illegally selling cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to 50 people who are at high risk of overdoses. 

"To have to repeatedly go to your friends' funerals and to see the horror beyond human comprehension, it's heartbreaking and it changes you and it radicalizes you," said DULF co-founder Eris Nyx, who wears camouflage as she says the drug crisis on the Downtown Eastside is a war.

DULF is researching the effectiveness of its program and wants to be exempt from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Nobody has died from DULF's drug program, according to Nyx.

"Our purpose is not to make profit from selling drugs. It is to keep people who use drugs safe so that they can live healthy and productive lives," Nyx said.

Mental health struggles

Martin was arrested less than a day after opening his drug dispensary. But he was ready to be arrested because he wanted to launch a constitutional challenge arguing for a legal safe supply of drugs.

He was again arrested in early June for driving without insurance, according to Thomas. Police seized his car and drugs, she said. Things snowballed from there.

"I felt like he was slipping," Thomas said. "He admittedly said he was struggling."

Thomas said he was meticulous about testing his drugs. She wonders if Martin made an impulsive decision to take drugs that weren't tested the day he overdosed, and is haunted by the fact she'll never definitively know what happened. 

"We'll never know if it was to self-medicate and if it went too far," Thomas said.

B.C.'s Coroners Service has confirmed that it's investigating Martin's death.

Thomas is left with unanswered questions, and Martin's two pitbull puppies — Paris and Prada. She says she will now lead the constitutional challenge that Martin was working on with a lawyer. 

"He touched so many lives and he educated you along the way," Thomas said. "He would absolutely want his story to continue to be told."