'It could happen to anybody': Why these Sask. organizations want you to be aware of drug overdoses
Communities throughout the province spent Thursday marking International Overdose Awareness Day
For International Overdose Awareness Day on Thursday, Jenny Churchill, Cheryl Deschene and Krista Mansbridge offered a warning.
"It could happen to you," said Deschene.
"It could happen to anybody, and it does," said Churchill.
The three mothers have each had a child die from an overdose. That's why they are members of Mothers Stop the Harm, a network of families affected by substance abuse.
The group was among a dozen organizations who gathered in Regina's North Central neighbourhood to mark the annual day, which attempts to draw attention to a problem cloaked in secrecy and shame.
"There are a lot of wonderful groups here today that do amazing work, and it's important that they all do something a little bit different," Churchill said. "People sometimes need different services. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution."
A similar event with 17 organizations was held in Saskatoon. Dan Hearn was among its organizers.
Hearn is the host Hard Knox Talks, a podcast that tries to raise awareness about substance use and mental illness. Hearn said more needs to be done to address the issue.
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"We're seeing an ever growing increase in drug related harms in our community here in Saskatoon and again across Canada. All over. It's just getting worse and worse. What's not really improving is the topical conversations around it," he said.
The number of drug toxicity deaths in Saskatchewan continues to climb. In 2016, the first year the province recorded data, the Saskatchewan coroners service reported 109 drug toxicity deaths.
There were tripled that many in 2020 with 324 deaths.
Then, over the next two years, another 784 people — 408 in 2021 and 376 in 2022 — died from suspected or confirmed drug poisoning.
In the first seven months of 2023, the province's corner has report another 291 deaths.
Experts and those who deal with substance abuse say that the stigma around substance abuse makes it difficult for those who need help to ask for it.
Rob Kraushaar is director of The Comeback Society's street team. He's also brutally honest about his own journey with substance use.
Eight years ago he was in the depths of addiction and nearly died.
"My kidneys failed, my liver failed, I was on dialysis. I ended up having open heart surgery. The whole time I was in hospital, I was still smoking fentanyl and shooting up," he told the crowd in Regina on Thursday.
Kraushaar wants people to speak openly so that politicians and policymakers will be motivated to make changes.
That's what makes events like the one held on Thursday so important, he said.
"It's important just to take away the stigma and realize that these are human beings and drugs are never going to go away," Kraushaar told CBC.
"If we can just start treating it like the epidemic that it is and giving people the care and love and compassion that they need and deserve, I think we'll start moving in the right direction."
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With files from Pratyush Dayal