'I just want people to know drugs users are people,' says overdose survivor behind new poetry collection

An overdose survivor is sharing his experience recovering from drug addiction in a new poetry collection, which he says aims to humanize and destigmatize people who use drugs.

A Brief Relief from Hunger, published early September, features about 30 poems about Spenser Smith's experience with substance use and recovery amid B.C.'s toxic drug crisis.  

"I just want people to know that drug users are people," said Smith. 

Smith says he noticed an increase in hateful rhetoric toward drug users when the province declared a public health emergency over the growing number of toxic drug overdoses in 2016. 

"As somebody that was in recovery and who had friends actively dying from this crisis, I just found that really horrendous."

Over 12,000 British Columbians have died since the province declared a public health emergency over the toxic drug crisis in 2016. Across Canada, there have been over 36,000 opioid toxicity deaths between January 2016 to December 2022.

In his poetry, Smith explores addictions to other things, like food — which Smith says he turned to when he stopped using drugs.

"Substance use happens to be illegal but there are so many ways people try to cope," he said.

• This week on Cross Country Checkup, we want to know if you or your family have been affected by the toxic drug crisis? What can we do to reduce the number of drug deaths in Canada? Fill out the details on this form and send us your stories. 

The poems also include excerpts from negative online comments about people who use drugs, which Smith compares to his experiences. He says those comments reflect society's views of addiction. 

Smith says he has also experienced stigma firsthand, including being treated "less than" by a family doctor and at detox centres. 

"It felt like, because I was using substances, I couldn't be trusted." 

Leslie McBain, co-founder of Moms Stop The Harm, says this stigma can have more immediate consequences, especially when people who use drugs are afraid to seek help and treatment.

"It actually kills people," she said. "It makes it so people who use drugs don't want to go to an ER or to a family doctor or ask for help because they're going to be treated like garbage." 

This stigma also prevents governments from moving forward with certain proposed solutions, says McBain, like offering a regulated safe supply of drugs and building new treatment centres. 

"If governments weren't mired in stigma ... they would move quickly ahead."

Cabbage rolls and compassion

In 2013, Smith was hospitalized in Regina following an overdose. 

It was then that he moved to a treatment centre in Nanaimo, B.C., where he spent six years. He later completed a bachelor's degree at Vancouver Island University, then moved to Vancouver. 

During the worst part of his addiction, Smith says he lived with his grandmother in Regina who treated him with compassion, making him cabbage rolls and talking to him about their family history and current events. 

Smith says being treated with kindness was key to his recovery, and he hopes his book will inspire others to treat people who use drugs in the same way.

"When I was in the depths of my addictions I had hopes, I had dreams," said Smith.

"I hope people see the humanity in people who use illicit substances."