Contact Us FAQ Français
Home / 48 Hours: Lessons from Vancouver in Canada's Opioid Crisis: W5

48 Hours: Lessons from Vancouver in Canada's Opioid Crisis: W5

Maple Leaf This item is only available for Canadian orders.

Catalogue Number:  CTV715
Producer:  CTV
Producing Agencies:  CTV
Subject:  Canadian Social Issues, Criminal Justice & Law, Current Events, Documentary, Guidance, Health and Medicine, Social Issues, Social Sciences
Language:  English
Grade Level:  9 - 12, Post Secondary
Country Of Origin:  Canada
Copyright Year:  2017
Running Time:  40:00
Closed Captions:  Yes


Request Preview Access

W5's Jon Woodward investigates Canada's growing fentanyl epidemic at ground zero - Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Woodward spends the 48 hours after "welfare Wednesday", often considered the toughest two days on the streets, delivering an unprecedented, first-hand account of the fight against the growing synthetic opioid crisis.

W5 identifies new tools in the fight against synthetic opioid overdoses, including the use of Narcan, the life-saving opioid antidote that counteracts the effects of fentanyl. The report spotlights how specialized paramedics and volunteers on the ground, army-style mobile treatment centres, prescription heroin, and supervised injection sites are making a difference for victims of this crushing addiction.

W5 profiles Vancouver Coastal Health's Mobile Medical Unit (MMU), a field hospital that can be transported to each emergency, and delivers revealing interviews with paramedics, first responders, and users in the area. Working alongside their colleagues from CTV Vancouver, W5 also visits St. Paul's Hospital, the closest emergency room to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, which sees three-quarters of the overdose calls in the area.

Woodward also interviews former businesswoman and politician Sarah Blyth, now the operator of a safe injection site, and Dr. Scott Macdonald from the Crosstown Clinic, a first-of-its-kind program in North America offering legal, prescription heroin to chronic users as a last ditch solution to addiction. Blyth and Macdonald discuss the societal cost of illicit drugs and how these new initiatives are reducing the burden on society, while saving lives and the city millions of dollars.


Related Titles

One Nation, Overdosed

Films Media Group 395054

Pierre Thomas and ABC affiliates report on the opioid addiction epidemic that kills at least 91...

Opioids: Addiction, Overdose and Death

Human Relations Media 600682

This program, aimed at middle school and high school students clearly describes the dangers of...

Everything You Need to Know About Substance Abuse in 22 Minutes...

Human Relations Media 600679

This totally new and updated revival of a HRM best seller saturates viewers with one unrelenting...

Opioids Epidemic: How I Became A Heroin Addict

Human Relations Media 600669

With approximately 28,000 overdose deaths a year it's very clear that America has a serious opioid...

Breaking Point: Heroin in America

Films Media Group 394959

In this 20/20 special report, David Muir takes us to New Hampshire and inside the lives of...

Kill Pill: W5

CTV CTV665

It seems no family is guaranteed immunity from the appalling possibility that one of their members...

Warning: This Drug May Kill You

Films Media Group 395049

From journalist/producer/director Perri Peltz (HBO’s Risky Drinking), Warning: This Drug May...

The Decline

Event Film Distribution Inc. EFDI00

Investigates the ever-growing overdose epidemic in North America. In 2015 German director/producer...


Browse Our Collection By Subject

View All Subjects