People First Radio – April 02, 2026People First Radio – April 02, 2026
People First Radio
Researchers, peers and artists talk about the toxic drug crisis, homelessness and harm reduction in small B.C. cities, and share how an autobiographical play on orphanhood and musical theatre fits into a season focused on men’s mental health. The episode links data, policy and lived experience with humour, storytelling and a strong focus on human connection.
0:00•4 Apr 2026
Toxic Drugs, Housing, and Boy Player: Real Stories Behind Policy and Men’s Mental Health
Episode Overview
- Toxic drug deaths in B.C. remain high nearly a decade into the public health emergency, with small cities often matching big-city death rates per capita.
- Media and public discourse frequently mix up homelessness, substance use and the toxic drug crisis, masking the fact that most drug poisonings occur in private homes.
- Walk With Me uses recorded first-hand stories and guided story walks to centre lived experience in conversations about drugs, housing, trauma and policy.
- Researchers and peers see municipal bylaws, enforcement-focused responses and political pressure as major barriers to evidence-based harm reduction and housing approaches.
- Boy Player shows how theatre, humour and honest reflection on orphanhood and displacement can open up conversations about men’s mental health and resilience.
“The toxic drug crisis is the leading cause of preventable death on Vancouver Island, and has been for quite some time… more death than car crashes, suicides, and homicides combined.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety, grief, and everything in between? This edition of People First Radio brings together frontline research, lived experience, and raw storytelling to ask exactly that. In the first half, postdoctoral researcher Trevor Weidman and Walk With Me operations coordinator Christopher Hauschildt talk about life at the sharp end of the toxic drug crisis and homelessness in smaller B.C. cities.
Trevor sets the scene: nearly a decade into B.C.’s public health emergency, “more than 18,000 people have died since 2016,” with deaths per capita in some small centres matching or exceeding big cities. He explains how municipal bylaws, street sweeps and political pressure can clash with health-focused harm reduction. Christopher brings it back to people’s stories.
Walk With Me began at the Comox Valley Art Gallery as a response to “an overwhelming loss of life,” weaving first-hand accounts from people who use drugs, family members, and frontline workers into audio tracks shared through “story walks.” Participants wear silent headsets and walk through local streets while hearing these voices, creating space for quiet reflection and human connection.
As Christopher notes, “The toxic drug crisis is the leading cause of preventable death on Vancouver Island… more death than car crashes, suicides, and homicides combined,” and most deaths happen at home, not in doorways. The second half shifts to theatre and men’s mental health.
Playwright and performer Frank Moore and director Jonathan Greenway talk about Boy Player, a one-person show on being orphaned in Edmonton, shipped to New York in 1968, and finding refuge in musical theatre and, later, in love and family. Frank jokes that the play is “a pretty good emotional workout,” but insists it’s laced with humour, songs, and a reminder that you can move through darkness without losing light.
If you’re looking for honest talk on toxic drugs, housing, stigma and men’s emotional lives—with a few show tunes thrown in—this conversation might be exactly what you need today.
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