Harm-reduction advocate mourned after being found unresponsive in hotel

A harm-reduction advocate who founded an organization to support people battling drug addiction is being mourned after being found unresponsive in a Metro Vancouver hotel room last weekend.

Patrick Evans's death comes at a time when British Columbia is marking the seventh anniversary of the province declaring the toxic drug crisis a public health emergency.

Evans, who was 36, was found in a hotel near the Vancouver International Airport. 

Guy Felicella, a friend of Evans for almost a decade, told CBC Evans was continuing to battle with drug addiction and "was overdosing frequently."

Following his death, Felicella says he spoke with Evans's family, who told him Evans likely died of an overdose. 

Felicella — a Vancouver-based public speaker known for detailing his own struggles with addiction and overdose — says Evans, in recent conversations, spoke about their fear of dying.  

"I was like, 'Yeah, I was in the same position as you, Patrick. I know this,'" Felicella told CBC.

"[Patrick] didn't want to die … And just sadly, sometimes that beast in us is just too big to overcome."

Evans was 'passionate' about helping people 

Evans established the East Kootenay Network of People Who Use Drugs (EKNPUD) in September 2020. The non-profit organization remains active, mainly in the communities of Kimberley and Cranbrook, roughly 800 kilometres east of Vancouver.

The organization offers a number of services, including working with people who are on safe supply, peer support and engagement, helping people navigate the medical system, and working with members of the unhoused community.   

CBC could not reach anyone from EKNPUD for comment on Evans's death.

Felicella said Evans was "so passionate" about the organization and helping people in general.

"It didn't matter if you used drugs or it didn't matter if you wanted to get into recovery," Felicella said. "[Patrick] just wanted to help you. That's the part that made our relationship special."  

Toxic drug crisis declared in 2016

On April 14, 2016, B.C. became the first jurisdiction in Canada to declare a public health emergency over increasing overdoses. Overdose deaths had reached 529 in 2015, a 33 per cent increase from the year before, according to statistics from the B.C. Coroners Service, and the government said more people were dying every month.

Last year, the toxic drug supply claimed nearly 2,300 lives in B.C.

And, in March this year, B.C. set records for most overdose and poisoning calls in one day, the highest 30-day average of overdose calls, and most consecutive days where paramedics attended 100 or more poisonings.

With the anniversary of B.C.'s declaration of a public health crisis, the timing of Evans's death is not lost on Felicella.

"Patrick was such a great kid, great character and great human being and unfortunately the poison drug supply got the better of them," Felicella said.

"It's like I say to anybody: it just gets the better of all of us."