'So many people are dying': Calgarians rally for action on opioid crisis

Lauren Marshall lost her 22-year-old son, Graham,just four months ago. He was one of 343Albertanswho died from usingfentanylin 2016.

"He was our only child. So now all I can do is advocate for other people so their children don't die," she said.

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On Tuesday, Marshall stood with about 40people in downtown Calgary as part of a national day of action on the overdose crisis, organized by the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs.

Graham became addicted to OxyContinaboutfour years ago, his mother said. When the drug was discontinued, addicts went in search of something similar andfentanyl became Graham's substitute.

"He had treatment, these drugs seemed to be something that are so difficult to get over," Marshall said. "He had a lot of treatment.He was one of the lucky ones, but the relapses killed him."

"So many people are dying all across this country and it's time that the government steps up and does more than what they're doing."

Supervised consumption sites a step

The Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs organized rallies in six other Canadian cities to demand the federalgovernment revise its approach to theopioidandfentanylcrisis.

ArshKaurDhaliwal, the chair of the Calgary Harm Intervention and Prevention task force, said supervised consumption sites are just one way the government can start to fight theopioidcrisis.

"Opiates have been here for many years.However, the types of opiates that are here and the fact that they are laced withfentanyl, and at many times people who areconsuming drugs are unaware thatfentanylis in their products, is why this crisis has occurred at such an exponential rate," she said.

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WandeWood worked in mental health and addiction for 25 years. She said she hasseen crises before, but recently the number ofdeaths have gone up exponentially because of the dangers of fentanyl and carfentanil.

"There is so much stigma around drug use and substance abuse. What people don't realize is these are people that often have long histories of trauma, they've been marginalized. It's hard to address completely because then we have to look at social determinants of health," she said.

"It's a really broad problem that's difficult to tackle, but we've got to start somewhere."