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It was a brutal year for Smokey D.

The Downtown Eastside graffiti artist lost 17 friends to overdoses, including Dawn, his friend of a decade. After being clean for “a long time,” Dawn died at a party where she smoked crack and heroin cut with fentanyl, said Smokey, 47, who asked that his real name not be published.

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“It ripped a hole in my heart, man,” he said. “I always thought I would die before her.”

Since an overdose crisis began sweeping across B.C. — killing 755 people in the first 11 months of 2016 alone — Smokey has painted a dozen murals, memorials for those who have died in the community and warnings about the dangers of using fentanyl-tainted street drugs without others present to call for help.

Fentanyl, a toxic opioid, has been detected in 60 per cent of illicit-drug overdose deaths this year, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.

“It killed a lot of people in my world, so I have no time for it,” Smokey said.