How fentanyl transformed Victoria’s Pandora Avenue from downtown hub to open-air drug market | Unpublished
Hello!
Source Feed: The Globe and Mail
Author: Nancy Macdonald
Publication Date: May 24, 2025 - 08:00

How fentanyl transformed Victoria’s Pandora Avenue from downtown hub to open-air drug market

May 24, 2025
// custom header art window.tgam.meta.photo_desktop = ""; window.tgam.meta.photo_mobile = ""; window.tgam.meta.video = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/editorial/News/nw-na-pandora-avenue-poisoned/pandora-main-v3.mp4"; window.tgam.meta.caption = ""; window.tgam.meta.credit = ""; // custom header layout parameters window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay = false; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_vertical_position = "top"; // top, centre, bottom window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_horizontal_position = "left"; // left, centre, right window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_gradient = false; window.tgam.meta.two_column = false; window.tgam.meta.swap_column = true; window.tgam.meta.full_width = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background = true; window.tgam.meta.dark_background_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.centre_headline = true; window.tgam.meta.large_headline = true; window.tgam.meta.sans_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour_overlay = "" ; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour_overlay = ""; window.tgam.meta.audio_bar = false; // custom header display overrides (optional): window.tgam.meta.display_head = "Pandora’s block"; window.tgam.meta.display_deck = "As B.C. became the epicentre of a nationwide opioid crisis, fentanyl brought misery to this Victoria street. Civic leaders warn the whole downtown core could be next"; window.tgam.meta.label = "Poisoned"; window.tgam.meta.byline = "Nancy Macdonald" window.tgam.meta.byline2 = "Photography by Chad Hipolito"; window.tgam.meta.creditline = "The Globe and Mail"; The sidewalk outside Victoria’s Central Baptist Church was littered with trash on a recent visit. A woman was slumped like a resting marionette, her arms hanging from her waist. The smell of urine rose from the concrete. It was mid-week in the heart of the city’s central business district but Pandora Avenue was strangely quiet. Nobody was talking. No one was asking for change.


Unpublished Newswire

 
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed civilians in a seven minute speech made public in the early hours of the morning. Speaking in English on a YouTube link shared via the Prime Minister’s Office, he said: “Moments ago, Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion’, a targeted military operation to roll back the...
June 12, 2025 - 22:57 | Special to National Post | National Post
Quebec Senator Larry Smith has joined the chamber’s Conservative caucus, making him the third person to cross the Senate floor since the beginning of June and boosting the opposition caucus to 14 members.It’s a return to the past for Mr. Smith, who was the Conservative opposition leader in the Senate from 2017 to 2019. In 2022, he joined the Canadian Senators Group, which has no party affiliation, but remained a Conservative Party member.
June 12, 2025 - 22:07 | Emily Haws | The Globe and Mail
Before she had to flee her Sandy Lake First Nation home, Elizabeth Fiddler put a sign in her living-room window: “CAT INSIDE. His name is Louie!”She took a photo of the sign, with Louie, a black and white cat wearing an orange bow tie with a bell attached, sitting below, and posted it to a Facebook group called “Sandy Lake Fire 2025 – Pet Rescue.”
June 12, 2025 - 21:56 | Willow Fiddler | The Globe and Mail