Heather Kennedy’s daughter Allison seemed to have her life on track.
Drugs and alcohol had been a problem for her. She was 24, and had just started her schooling before she died of drug poisoning in February 2020.
“Just a month before she died, she had said to me how happy she was with how everything was going in her life,” Kennedy said.
“But she went out one night and overdosed. It wasn’t a big party night or anything. But what I hear is that’s quite typical for drug usage with young adults in Nelson, that it doesn’t have to be a big night out and that drugs are often involved.”
Substance users on the street, Kennedy says, are more likely to receive help because their usage is more public and there are other people around to notice there’s something wrong. That wasn’t the case for Allison.
“I think that for a lot of our kids, they’re using privately in homes and they might seem to be passed out and they’re actually dying.”
Kennedy was one of an estimated 75-100 people at an International Overdose Awareness Day event at Lakeside Park on Aug. 31.
Organizer Amanda Erickson said almost everyone around a circle of attendees who were present has a story similar to Kennedy’s.
“Our grief is too much to bear alone,” she told the group that stood in a large circle in the park. “We must bear it as a community and hold ourselves and hold each other in this. It’s too much for any of us alone. We must come together as a community and when we do, we’re stronger together.”
The purpose of International Overdose Awareness Day, she said, is to acknowledge and honour those who have died due to drug poisoning or overdose.
A second reason is “to honour the service providers, emergency responders and other leaders who are working to advocate for more resources in Nelson, to add to the already amazing resources that we have here.”
She pointed out that three members of the Nelson Fire Department were in attendance. Fire department members often attend drug poisonings in Nelson, offering first responder service.
Jacquie Huser attended the event because she has a family member struggling with substance use.
“I have a loved one who has struggled for many years. She is currently just over two and a half years in recovery and doing well, so I’m one of the lucky ones at this point.”
Huser works for the advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm, and she recruits and trains facilitators for the group’s Holding Hope support groups, which are for people with a loved one who is struggling with substance use. Kennedy also works with Moms Stop the Harm and with Healing Hearts Kootenays, a bereavement support group for those who have lost a loved one to substance use.
“I believe what we need is more access to treatments, to detox,” Huser said. “I think we have so many pillars missing. Safe supply is one. First we need to keep people alive so they can get a bed and treatment.”
According to the BC Coroners Service, 198 people — about six people per day — died in July due to the toxic drug crisis in the province. During the period between January and July, there were 1,455 deaths in B.C. due to toxic drugs — the largest number ever reported for the first seven months of a year.
The province says drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in B.C. for people aged 10 to 59.
READ MORE:
• COLUMN: Love and grief during the toxic drug crisis
• 198 people died in B.C. in July due to toxic drug poisonings
• Nelson council passes drug use ban in city parks
bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com
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