'We need more urgency': Edmontonians rally for more support in opioid crisis

A drug overdose robbed Faye Gray of a daughter, and her five-year-old grandson of a mother.

Gray's daughter, Lindsey, 33, died in Nov. 2015 from a lethal dose of methamphetamineand fentanyl. She wasn't an "all-out addict," Gray says.

She'd been using drugs for only six weeks.

"She was my daughter but she was also my best friend," Gray said, holding a photo of her smiling daughter.

"You never get over it, there's no such thing as closure. You're sad every day, even though you smile, you're sad. At first I almost felt guilty for laughing because she wasn't with me."

Gray attended theCanadian Association of People Who Use Drugs rally in downtown Edmonton on Tuesday to demand the Canadian government revise its approach to theopioidandfentanylcrisis. Rallies were also held in six other Canadian cities.

• How decriminalizing drugs helped Portugal solve its overdose crisis
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Demonstrators called for more meaningful input from those most affected bydrugs: users themselves, as well as frontline workers, allies, and families of those lost to theopioidcrisis.

'The war on drugs is a war on people'

7 years ago

Duration 0:46

Shanell Twan of the Canadian Association of the People Who Use Drugs spoke at a rally focusing on how health initiatives for people with addictions could move forward.

343 Albertansdied from fentanyl in 2016

Earlier this month, the Alberta government announced its latest plan to tackle the crisis as new numbers showed 343Albertanshad died fromfentanyloverdoses in 2016. Experts noted the total number ofopioiddeaths is even higher.

The province is makingopioidantidote kits available to first-responders and the general public without prescriptions, increasing access toopioiddrug treatment, updating standards around prescribing opiates and striving to open Alberta's first safe injection site in Edmonton by the end of the year.

But front-line workers and allies say more needs to be done, and soon.

Registered nurse Erica Schoenhas worked intheneedle exchange at Edmonton's Streetworks for the past six years. At the rally on Tuesday, she saidstigma around drug use is one of the biggest barriers to preventing overdoses and creating the resources necessary to help addicts.

"I'm seeing a lot of loss and a lot of hopelessness and a lot of people confused that we aren't doing more. We need more urgency," Schoen said.

"The research is out and there's a lot of things that we could be doing to prevent these deaths. We just want to make a stand that we could be doing more. There is research and evidence supporting heroin-assisted therapy, just an increase of services and resources."

The research is out and there's a lot of things that we could be doing to prevent these deaths. We just want to make a stand that we could be doing more.- EricaSchoen, nurse

Shanell Twan, an outreach worker and board member of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugssaid a needle exchange program in prisons, drug legalization and housing focused on harm reduction are all urgently needed, with support from the federal government.

Twan said Canada should adopt an approach similar to Portugal. The country once had a heroin epidemic that affected around one per cent of its entire population. But when it decriminalized all illegal drugs in 2001, the crisis stabilized.

According to the 2016 United Nations World Drug report, Portugal has the one of the lowest fatal overdose rates in the world. In 2012, ithad just 16 drug-related deaths in a country of 10.5 million.

"Legalizing drugs even across our country would take it out of the dealers' hands and lets give it to the doctors and put it in health perspective where we know people would then be able to have safe access to predictable medication as an alternative to illicit street drugs," Twan said.

Government not considering legalizing drugs

The Canadian government is not currently considering the legalization of all drugs, Health Canada spokesman Andr Gagnon said in an email.

The government is focused on a drug policy based on scientific evidence and a public health approach, he added. The Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy announced in Decemberrestores harm reduction as a core part of Canada's drug policy, he said.

On Feb.17, the government announced$65 million over five years to fight the opioid crisis and implement an Opioid Action Plan.

The Alberta government is now makingopioidantidote kits available to first-responders and the general public without prescriptions, increasing access toopioiddrug treatment, updating standards around prescribing opiates and striving to open Alberta's first safe injection site in Edmonton by the end of the year.

In addition, Alberta's associatehealth minister, Brandy Payne, is meeting with people "directly impacted" by addiction, press secretary Laura Ehrkamp said in an email.

• Improve opioid prescribing rules, training to curb fentanyl deaths, say advocates
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Twansays the government, and society, needto look beyond the stigma surrounding drug users to help curb the crisis.

"We need to acknowledge the fact that these are people and we need to provide healthcare services that are appropriate for this issue," she said. "We need to start looking at it through a health lens, which it is, instead of a moral lens, which has created somuch chaos for us.

"People who use drugs are just that. People."