As city's opioid crisis grows, Moncton event marks overdose awareness day

Along the edge of the parking lot behind Ensemble Moncton, white and purple hearts are hanging in the trees. Each one with a handwritten name of someone who lost their life because of an overdose.

Dozens of people gathered outside the charity on Thursday to mark International Overdose Awareness Day with a barbecue, naloxone training and music, and by handing out information about treatment options.

Purple balloons and banners reading "End Overdose" decorated the parking lot.

Scott Hoyt, an advanced care paramedic with Ambulance New Brunswick, handed out naloxone kits and showed people how to use them.

WATCH | People in Moncton remember lives lost to overdoses:

Moncton marks overdose awareness day as addiction crisis deepens

1 year ago

Duration 2:39

Frontline workers gather at Ensemble Moncton to remember those lost to addiction, share information on harm reduction and provide naloxone training.

"It's vitally important that we provide them with Narcan and to have these kits available to the community and people on the street because we're trying to save lives," he said.

A few dozen people stopped by the naloxone table to watch a demonstration of how to draw the medication from a vial and how to properly inject a syringe.

Hoyt, who volunteers at Ensemble's supervised injection site, said the substances people are using are stronger, making it more difficult to revive someone who has overdosed.

"The people who are experiencing addictions and those people who have suffered from overdose, they're human beings, and they're a part of our community," he said. "And it's important that we support everybody in our community."

Drug use growing

Debby Warren, Ensemble's executive director, said the event is a way to spread awareness of available services and acknowledge that people are dying from the toxic drug supply.

She said it also makes a difference to her clients to see the community support.

"They're often pushed aside and ignored and denied services for whatever reason. So it's for them to see that we are working on their behalf to advocate for better," she said.

"I'm really quite pleased that people from the general population, volunteers, stakeholders, have come here today and get to meet folks working in these services, but also get a chance to meet the individuals we're trying to help."

Ensemble serves close to 2,000 unique individuals through its harm reduction services, which include a needle exchange, counselling and a supervised injection site.

Warren said awareness of the injection drug-use issue in Moncton is growing. But people are shocked, she said, when she tells them that on average every four days, a New Brunswicker dies from substance use.

People from different treatment and recovery organizations from the Moncton area set up tables at the event to share information about their services.

Dr. Cory Long, a specialist in opioid addiction treatment at the Phoenix Recovery Centre, said the situation in Moncton is "extremely bad."

"At this point in time, our city is being compared to East Vancouver, which is widely considered one of the worst drug places in North America," he said.

"We have a big problem with the access to drugs, and in our community one of the reputations we have is we have some of the cheapest drugs."