The University of B.C.’s Alma Mater Society is organizing mass training events to teach students to recognize and reverse drug overdoses amid a devastating provincial health emergency that shows no sign of slowing down.

Organizers say 120 students are registered to attend a two-hour training session Oct. 19 in the student union building at UBC’s Vancouver campus, where they’ll learn the telltale signs of an overdose, how to use a naloxone kit and the role stigma-free language plays in improving the lives of people who use drugs.

The training was orchestrated by AMS VICE, a group that provides support to students who use substances. With registration at capacity and the event still drawing interest from thousands more students, the student society is already planning to hold more sessions to train as many people as possible, said AMS president Alan Ehrenholz.

“This is something that is an issue of our time and we want them to be prepared for the worst,” Ehrenholz said. “We want to prepare our students to respond in an emergency situation so that they can support their peers and have a safe and fun party experience.”

He said the university has been supportive of the AMS’s efforts and he hopes students will take their training with them off campus so that they can provide support in emergency situations wherever they are.

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