Remembering Travis Smarch, another victim of Yukon's drug crisis

Travis Smarch was known to everyone around him as an adventurous, outgoing and funny young man with a bright future. 

His life ended abruptly on Jan. 5 — the day he overdosed, alone, in his room at Whitehorse’s Chilkoot Inn. He was just 27. 

“It’s been really hard for me to talk about my son, because it’s so fresh,” his mother, Rosemary Smarch, told CBC News. “It’s like my mind’s blank.” 

He is one of eight Yukoners who have died from an illicit drug overdose so far in 2022. In response, the Yukon government declared a substance use health emergency last week,