A rally organized by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) on Tuesday commemorated those lost to the toxic drug crisis 10 years after a public health emergency was declared in B.C. over a spike in illicit drug deaths.

The rally was one of numerous events that marked the grim anniversary, with more than 18,000 people having died of toxic drugs since the state of emergency was declared on April 14, 2016.

VANDU got its start by distributing clean needles to community members in 1997 amid spiking HIV rates. Its members were involved in the 2003 opening of Insite, North America's first supervised injection site.

Ten years into the public health emergency, VANDU president David Hamm said the thousands of people lost to toxic drugs weren't just numbers, but people, and their deaths were preventable.