Jerry Martin, 51, died on Friday from what his partner thinks was an overdose of fentanyl
Krista Thomas stands at the corner of Main and Cordova streets in Vancouver. This is where her late partner, Jerry Martin, used to sell tested heroin, cocaine, and other illegal drugs from a mobile store.
Martin, who was 51, died on Friday after what Thomas, who is still in shock, thinks was an overdose of fentanyl.
Thomas told CBC News on Monday, “Right now, it still seems a bit strange.” “I haven’t had time to figure out what’s going on.”
Martin made national and international headlines After he opened his drug store in May of this year, he was arrested. He wanted to give people safer drugs because the toxic drug crisis in British Columbia was still killing hundreds of people every month.
Thomas said that the police called her last Tuesday to tell her that Martin had been found unresponsive in a car and was being taken to the hospital. After about 10 minutes, the police called back to say that Martin was okay and that his heart was still beating.
Thomas said that Martin’s condition got worse, and he was put into a coma with medicine. Thomas said that CT scans showed he had a lot of brain damage that was likely caused by a drug overdose.
“He would have only been able to do very basic things, like swallow, breathe, and cough. It became clear that Jerry no longer had the kind of life he would have wanted,” Thomas said.
She and Martin’s mother decided to take him off life support to stop his pain.
Krista Thomas talks about Jerry Martin’s last days in this video:
‘Tremendous tragedy
Jennifer Whiteside, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions for B.C., said in a statement to CBC on Monday that she was sorry for Martin’s death.
“Every life lost to the toxic drug supply is a terrible tragedy that affects family, friends, and the community,” the statement said. “This never-ending toxic drug crisis requires us to use all the tools we have to save lives and help people get the care they need.”
Martin’s family and drug activists are pointing out the tragic irony of his death by overdose, since he was trying to save lives by making drugs safer.
A group in Vancouver called the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) has also tried to give people tested illegal drugs. Since September, the group has sold cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine illegally to 50 people who are at high risk of overdosing.
Eris Nyx, who is a co-founder of DULF and wears camouflage because she says the drug crisis on the Downtown Eastside is a war, said, “It’s heartbreaking to have to go to the funerals of your friends over and over again and see horrors that are beyond our ability to understand. It changes you and makes you radical.”
DULF is looking into how well its program works and wants to get out of having to follow the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Nyx says that no one has died because of DULF’s drug program.
“We don’t want to make money by selling drugs. “The goal is to keep drug users safe so they can live healthy, useful lives,” Nyx said.
Mental health struggle
Martin was taken into custody less than a day after he opened his drug store. But he was ready to be arrested because he wanted to challenge the law by saying that drugs should be legal and safe to get.
Thomas says that he was taken into custody again at the beginning of June for driving without insurance. She said that police took his car and drugs from him. From there, things got worse and worse.
“I thought he was getting worse,” Thomas said. “He admitted that he was having trouble.”
Thomas said that he tested his drugs with a lot of care. She wonders if Martin took drugs that hadn’t been tested on the day he overdosed on a whim, and it bothers her that she’ll never know for sure what happened.
“We’ll never know if it was an attempt to self-medicate and if it went too far,” Thomas said.
The Coroners Service of B.C. has said that it is looking into Martin’s death.
Thomas is left with unanswered questions and Paris and Prada, Martin’s two pit bull puppies. She says that she will now be in charge of the constitutional challenge that Martin and a lawyer were working on.
Thomas said, “He changed so many lives and taught you things along the way.” “He would want his story to be told again and again.”