A man who opened a shop selling cocaine, crystal meth, MDMA and heroin has died of an overdose.

Jerry Martin, 51, was rushed to hospital in Vancouver, Canada, after his loved ones suspected he had taken too much fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.

While he survived the initial overdose, he was unresponsive following treatment and his family decided to take him off life support.

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Announcing his death, his partner Krista Thomas told VICE News: "Jerry believed that people were self-medicating their trauma and so long as they were doing that, they needed a safe supply to do it.

"He’s no more exempt than any other human being on this earth. He had his own trauma and unfortunately, he relapsed."

Thomas said Martin was not a known opioid user at the time of his death and it is unclear whether he intended to take fentanyl.

Martin, a former cocaine addict who spent most of his life homeless, opened The Drugs Store in Vancouver earlier this year.

It was the only brick-and-mortar shop in the US or Canada selling tested, clean versions of popular illegal drugs.

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“I am giving them addictive drugs but I’m giving them safer addictive drugs than you can get on the street, where they might be laced with fentanyl or some other drug," he said at the time.

He also said he would only sell to people aged 18 and over and customers would be given advice on how to quit alongside their purchase.

“Every day I’m not open, more people die," he added. "I can’t open fast enough.”

Despite his good intentions, however, he was arrested within 24 hours of opening the business.

Martin was introduced to drugs at the age of 14 and was an alcoholic and injection cocaine user by the time he was 15.

He was then homeless for 15 years before beginning to turn his life around.

British Columbia, where the shop was located, has launched a three-year pilot where some drugs are decriminalised.

However, the sale of these products is still illegal.

The western Canadian province also has safe supply projects, in which addicted drug users are given pharmaceutical-grade alternatives to street drugs.

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