Dennis O’Brien Jr. That’s my brother’s name. He died last month on Jan. 13 alone. He did not have the proper resources to seek help for his mental health and addictions problems.
That’s the fault of improper funding to mental health and addictions programs.
It’s time to start taking action. We get it, you’re “working” on it. We have heard that for months, if not years.
Our homeless populations and vulnerable populations cannot afford to keep waiting. When there was one too many COVID-19 deaths, we took action right away — rightfully so, but it seems that when it comes to opioid overdoses this mayor’s office is awfully silent.
The safe consumption site cannot come soon enough.
I work downtown as a security guard and we usually see one overdose per shift where we need to administer Narcan.
In Police Foundations, I learned about how bad our downtown core had gotten in terms of the vulnerable population, but it’s much worse than anything you can expect from reading about it.
I challenge you to spend a day downtown observing and you may begin to realize that those on the street, although unlikely to vote in elections, are still human beings that you should care about.
Please remember it’s not just the thousands of family members that will be judging your inaction, history will too.
At the very least, stop being so silent.
Shelden O’Brien
Greater Sudbury