To mark Aug. 31, which is International Overdose Awareness Day in Sudbury, two harm-reduction focused organizations chose to offer education without judgement, and specifically, how to manage risk while engaging in drug use.
The day is recognized annually, but this year it’s made more important with the worsening effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Sudbury’s unfavourable place in Canada’s opioid statistics. Public Health Ontario (PHO) reported in December of 2020 that the opioid-related death rates in many parts of Northern Ontario are significantly higher than the numbers being reported by Toronto Public Health and some other southern Ontario locations.
For comparison purposes, statistics were compiled in quarterly segments from the end of March 2019, through to the end March of 2020.
In the first quarter of 2020, just in the Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) jurisdiction, the rate of opioid deaths was listed at 41.9 per 100,000 population, an increase of 16.7 per cent from the previous year.
To mark the day, a barbecue was held at the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (SACY) along with their co-host, the Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy (OAHAS). There was a focus on myth-breaking, understanding and judgement-free education, as well as hot dogs and some fun painting rocks with the SACY youth outreach group.
Elder Martina Osawamick was on hand to speak with anyone who wished council, and the organizers of the event hoped that everyone who attended would come away with understanding and empathy. At Réseau ACCESS Network, there were demonstrations on the safe use of naloxone, a medicine used to rapidly reverse an overdose, but one that requires an understanding of the conditions surrounding a person’s overdose.
As well, a focus on harm reduction, and the removal of judgment surrounding drug use, something Kaela Pelland of Réseau ACCESS Network told Sudbury.com is an important part of any community’s plan to address the current crisis. She likens it to the now mandated safe sex education offered to students.
“We teach safe sex,” said Pelland, “because we know people are going to have sex anyway. So we should be giving people the education and the tools to make those informed decisions, to make safer choices for themselves.”
This education, both how to help someone who may be experiencing an overdose as well as how to safely use drugs to avoid accidents or injury, is important, but there is also the need to remove shame as a tool.
“We shame people when we find out they use drugs,” said Pelland. “There is [prejudicial] language in the media and music and movies about people who use drugs. As far as a community goes, changing the language, trying to shift the [prejudice] is the first step to really being able to create change.”
This change means seeing the person in front of the addiction. Seeing that they are people first, and people who use drugs.
“People who use drugs come in all shapes and sizes,” said Pelland. “We all look different, have different jobs, we are obvious about it or are very secretive about it. The reality is that substance use is everywhere.”
Pelland notes a morning caffeinated coffee, cocktail hour after a long day, or even the now legalized cannabis. “It is much more a part of our society than we realize and the person who uses opioids should be treated with the same amount of dignity and respect as the person drinking a latte. The difference is policy and laws regarding drugs, it’s the safety of the substances and to me, that’s what needs to change in order to combat the rising death tolls.”
Pelland said that far from combatting the Canadian Opioid Epidemic, declared in 2017 when an average of 11 Canadians lost their lives to apparent opioid-related deaths, there are now new challenges to face, including tainted supply.
“Drugs are being poisoned and that is what has led to so many deaths,” said Pelland. “The consistency and potency of the illicit drug supply changes constantly. This has led to folks reacting to substances in ways that would not be the case if they were using a safe supply of drugs like an opioid prescription medication or a stimulant prescription.”
She likens the trend to the issues with alcohol poisoning during prohibition.
“Historically, when alcohol was prohibited and people started making their own, the amount of death due to alcohol poisoning skyrocketed,” said Pelland. “The way the governments responded was to legalize and regulate alcohol. Now we have managed alcohol programs and much of society looks at alcoholism more empathetically. The idea of safe supply is quite similar.”
Safe consumption sites with safe supply and new paraphernalia, such as pipes or injectables, not only reduce the injuries and deaths associated with unsafe drug use, but also the cost to the health care system and policing systems in Canada.
Pelland said the Réseau ACCESS Network created the hashtag #WeUseUpHere in 2020 to bring awareness to the fact that “the Public Health Unit of Sudbury and Manitoulin District has the highest overdose death rate per capita in 2020. Yet we continue to lack services for people who use drugs, we continue to displace, stigmatize and degrade people who use drugs.”
Because of this, there was also a feeling of honour and remembrance behind these two events. At SACY, Sydney Langley said the event was in many ways a chance to honour those who had passed. SACY had a banner that could be written on, with thoughts and names added, as well as cards to be hung from a string, adorned with purple ribbons for remembrance. As well, take-home kits filled with candles and smudging herbs were offered for those who wished to make remembrances at home.
“I think we're just trying to break that stigma, show everyone that all sorts of people are affected,” said Sydney Langley, Harm Reduction Program co-ordinator. “The more we stick together, educate ourselves and not pass any of that judgment, then the better we can get through this.”
Langley said a key principle of harm reduction is non-judgemental support.
“We are just here to meet people where they're at,” said Langley. “We're not here to try to get people to stop using or to make major changes in their lifestyle. We just want to support them and educate them on best practices.”
