A Look at Canada’s Opioid Crisis
A Disturbing Look at Children's Aid
Societies
As
all levels of government gear up to counter the ravages of powerful opioids, a
new series by B.C. writer Trevor Jang reveals the true cost of losing loved
ones to addiction and overdose
By Maxime Ruel | Fri, October 13,
11:56 AM
For the past couple years, Canada has been facing a violent and ever-growing
national opioid crisis, fuelled in large part by the prevalence of fentanyl, a
synthetic that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. It’s easy to
describe the magnitude of the crisis in those terms without fully grasping its
ravaging nature, so here are a couple numbers to help you put it in context. In
2016, 2,300 Canadians died of an opioid overdose, former Health Minister Jane
Philpott said last May in Montreal, adding that the “death toll
is worse than any other infectious epidemic in Canada, including the peak of
AIDS deaths, since the Spanish flu that took the lives of 50,000 people a
century ago.” Last year’s death count has since been updated to 2,800, while the number of
opioid-related deaths in Canada will likely surpass 3,000 in 2017. During the first three
months of this year, deaths involving fentanyl have “more than doubled” when
compared to the same period last year, Dr. Theresa Tam, head of the Public
Health Agency of Canada, told the press.The opioid crisis began in—and still disproportionately affects—Western provinces, especially British Columbia. But it is slowly and steadily creeping into an increasing number of communities across Canada, be it large cities, suburbs or even rural areas. Last year, there were more than 15 opioid-related deaths per every 100,000 citizens in B.C., with Alberta trailing close behind. And through the first seven months of this year, 81 per cent of overdose deaths in B.C. were linked to illicit fentanyl.
If Quebec had been spared by fentanyl for a relatively long time—there were 27 deaths related to the drug in the province last year—the crisis appears to be catching up now. In August alone, the powerful opioid was linked to 12 deaths in Montreal.
What makes this crisis even trickier—and scarier—is that it can affect anyone. Issues of addiction to illicit drugs or prescription painkillers overlap with mental health, poverty, crime and gang activity, to name only a few contributing factors in the current situation. Fentanyl can kill a long-time heroin user as easily as a young graduate snorting a line at a party once in a while—it does not discriminate.
Aside from the numbers, there’s an important human aspect to all of this—and some stories really drive it home. If you can only handle one thing about the loss of a loved one to opioids, make it “Kids of Addiction,” a new series by Discourse Media’s Trevor Jang. To read it is to grasp the true human cost that more than 2,800 Canadians paid last year. Here’s a small sample of its power:
My father collapsed onto the bathroom floor. His body likely would have been shaking, mouth foaming. Then his heart stopped. To this day I wonder what he was thinking in those moments before he died. I wonder if his last thought was my mom, or my little sister or maybe me. I wonder about the path his life took that led him to that night. I wonder how much of that path can fairly be called his fault. And I wonder if he had any idea it was a path I’d retrace.
TOP: Photo by The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck
The opioid crisis began in—and still disproportionately affects—Western provinces, especially British Columbia. But it is slowly and steadily creeping into an increasing number of communities across Canada, be it large cities, suburbs or even rural areas. Last year, there were more than 15 opioid-related deaths per every 100,000 citizens in B.C., with Alberta trailing close behind. And through the first seven months of this year, 81 per cent of overdose deaths in B.C. were linked to illicit fentanyl.
If Quebec had been spared by fentanyl for a relatively long time—there were 27 deaths related to the drug in the province last year—the crisis appears to be catching up now. In August alone, the powerful opioid was linked to 12 deaths in Montreal.
What makes this crisis even trickier—and scarier—is that it can affect anyone. Issues of addiction to illicit drugs or prescription painkillers overlap with mental health, poverty, crime and gang activity, to name only a few contributing factors in the current situation. Fentanyl can kill a long-time heroin user as easily as a young graduate snorting a line at a party once in a while—it does not discriminate.
Aside from the numbers, there’s an important human aspect to all of this—and some stories really drive it home. If you can only handle one thing about the loss of a loved one to opioids, make it “Kids of Addiction,” a new series by Discourse Media’s Trevor Jang. To read it is to grasp the true human cost that more than 2,800 Canadians paid last year. Here’s a small sample of its power:
My father collapsed onto the bathroom floor. His body likely would have been shaking, mouth foaming. Then his heart stopped. To this day I wonder what he was thinking in those moments before he died. I wonder if his last thought was my mom, or my little sister or maybe me. I wonder about the path his life took that led him to that night. I wonder how much of that path can fairly be called his fault. And I wonder if he had any idea it was a path I’d retrace.
TOP: Photo by The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck
No comments:
Post a Comment