by Amber Streukens
ANKORS harm reduction peer navigator
August 31, 2021 marks the 20th annual International Overdose Awareness Day. This day of action and remembrance is part of a global campaign to end illicit drug overdose, to remember our lost loved ones without stigma, and to acknowledge the grief carried by those left behind.
So far this year, the Kootenay Boundary region has lost at least 10 individuals to overdose. What is not shown in these devastating statistics is the human experience of tragic loss. Each drug poisoning fatality leaves a painful wound for friends, partners, siblings, children, parents, neighbours, co-workers. Substance use touches all families. Each death by overdose is a loss felt acutely by loved ones left behind which creates cascading grief in our communities.
Over 22,000 Canadians have died from illicit drug overdose since 2016. The number of individuals hospitalized for accidental drug poisoning is even higher, and many of these people suffer permanent injuries. While this issue is relevant in every community, the rate of overdose fatalities continues to be highest in the province of British Columbia, where over 850 lives have been lost to drug poisoning fatalities in the first five months of 2021. This equates to more than five lives lost each day this year in B.C., the majority being males between the ages of 20 and 49. First Nations communities remain disproportionately impacted by this crisis, with Indigenous people dying at nearly six times the rate of non-Indigenous Canadians.
Not only are these statistics too high, they are worsening in recent years. Illicit drug overdose now claims more lives per year in Canada than homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle accidents combined. At this rate, we are on track for another “worst year” in a five-year long provincial public health emergency.
Tragic loss — a sudden or violent or preventable death — brings its own complex experience of traumatic grief. As compared with uncomplicated bereavement, traumatic grief from tragic loss is known to significantly increase distress and post-traumatic stress.
Stigma additionally shrouds the ways in which we may grieve these tragic losses, inserting silence and isolation where what is needed is care and support. People who use drugs are valued members of our society, they are our friends, neighbours, partners, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers. For people who use drugs and those who love them, the ever-present threat of death, the compounding pain of losing so many friends, and the heavy weight of grieving in silence results in persistent and anticipatory grief. This is a heavy weight to carry alone.
We will gather on Aug. 31 to raise awareness around overdose, but what we are really experiencing in Canada is not simply an epidemic of “overdose” (which refers to taking too much) but actually a drug poisoning crisis driven by an increasingly toxic illicit supply. Opioid toxicity is undeniably driving the crisis, with fentanyl present in 82 per cent of fatal opioid toxicity deaths in 2020. Among people who use opiates, this is largely the result of inconsistencies and contaminations. Opiate-naive people who use drugs are also at-risk of poisoning by an unregulated, contaminated supply. According to federal data, the polysubstance nature of this crisis is clear, with half of accidental opioid toxicity deaths in 2020 involving a stimulant as well.
While some communities are disproportionately impacted, an unpredictable toxic drug supply does not discriminate, placing all people who use drugs at-risk of harm from drug poisoning. Overdose prevention and response measures (such as drug checking, take-home naloxone, and supervised consumption) are curbing fatality rates, but this is not enough. With thousands of lives lost, and thousands of loved ones suffering traumatic grief, it is time for bolder public health measures to address the drug poisoning epidemic.
This year for International Overdose Awareness Day, we in Nelson are focused on raising awareness and holding space for our collective grief, but there is time for action as well. As we approach a federal election, now is a time to ask questions of our representatives, to push politicians to bring this issue to the table, to demand swift action to end overdose in Canada. These deaths are preventable.
ANKORS and REDUN invite all community members to join us on Aug. 31 at Cottonwood Falls to commemorate our lost loved ones, to grieve without shame, and to raise awareness around overdose and prevention. A detailed schedule of events will be available soon, contact ANKORS at 250-505-5506 or peer.ankors@gmail.com for more information or to get involved.