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In a testament to the sheer scale and concentration of Vancouver’s drug problem, a pigeon living in the city’s Downtown Eastside was found to have built its nest entirely out of used hypodermic needles.

The nest was found in the sink of a room of a “single room occupancy” — an official term for low-cost hotels in the neighbourhood frequented by addicts.

The image was posted to the Twitter account of Vancouver Police Superintendent Michelle Davey, a veteran of policing strategies and planning in the neighbourhood.

“Sad reality of the opioid crisis,” she wrote in an accompanying note.

As Vancouver’s drug users continue to be sold batches of drugs tainted with the powerful opioids fentanyl or carfentanil, the city has seen a rising spike in overdoses and drug-related deaths.

More than 100 people have been killed in Vancouver by overdoses over the course of 2017, with many more having life-threatening overdoses reversed with the opioid-blocking medication naloxone.

Over a single night in April, for instance, paramedics in the Downtown Eastside had to respond to 12 overdoses.

• Email: thopper@nationalpost.com | Twitter: TristinHopper