There’s an epidemic in Canada. Not Covid, but an epidemic of overdose deaths.
I am talking about hard drugs like cocaine, crack, crystal meth and the deadliest of all, fentanyl.
Some of our communities have been hit hard. In Yellowknife, a reliable source tells me the drug scene on the streets is more dangerous than ever.
I am a recovered addict. I got hooked when I was a teenager. I partied, drank and took drugs. My experience was very different “back-in-the-day.” But years later, my oldest son also got hooked and he confirmed what I have been told about hard drugs today. With his permission I will tell Gage’s story (not his real name). This might sound familiar to many parents who have adult children using hard drugs or addicted to alcohol.
I am from Ottawa, which is unceded Algonquin territory. Gage was going to university. While a student, he got hooked on opioids. His story is a little different from mine. His addiction started when he was hit by a guy in a Jeep. He flew over the vehicle and broke both legs. He had to get one leg re-attached by a micro-surgeon. We were not sure if he would walk again.
After the operation, Gage was prescribed oxycontin for the pain. He had nightmares of the accident. By the time he could walk again, he was hooked. He dropped out of school. He went from prescription medication to street drugs and eventually to heroin. I want to emphasize this was not the doctor’s fault in any way. The doctor was doing his job. Gage made the choices that led him into addiction. (There is no full recovery without honesty and taking personal responsibility.)
Gage’s drug use went on for years. I moved back north to work for the GNWT. Then something happened that scared Gage. It scared me too.
He lived in downtown Ottawa. He was just a few blocks from Parliament Hill. He told me he could get any drug he wanted delivered to his door in 15 minutes. He did not need money. His credit was good. He had three drug dealers living close by in the very shadows of the Parliament buildings. The dealers were friendly back then and even appeared caring at times. The drug-user community looked out for each other. Gage’s girlfriend was a beautiful young artist from a “good family.” She also used drugs.
I never judged my son. I took a “harm reduction” approach. I told Gage I loved him, and we remained close. We stayed connected. I encouraged him to use clean needles, eat good food, stay healthy and be safe. He stayed connected to our family doctor, who was also very supportive. Gage was high functioning. He always had a place to live. He held down two jobs — work started in the late afternoon, and he worked until the early hours of the morning. This suited his lifestyle.
When I was on vacation, we would go camping. Gage loved being out in nature. He loved being on the land. He and I were honest with each other. We talked for hours driving through the countryside. I often said to my friends, “Gage is the ‘poster boy’ for harm reduction.” I accepted the situation as it was. But then something happened. Things began to change. The drug scene was changing, and the situation got very scary.
What changed? In one word, fentanyl! Fentanyl is a hundred times more powerful than heroin. It is very cheap and very deadly. Today almost all street drugs are laced with fentanyl. Gage tried to reassure me he was being extra cautious. He kept a naloxone kit in his apartment. One day a friend came over and they did drugs together. Gage’s friend overdosed. He stopped breathing and turned blue. His head dropped and he became unconscious. He was dying. Gage kept a cool head and administered naloxone, which reverses the effects of fentanyl. He saved his friend’s life. (Years later, this same friend overdosed again and died.)
Fentanyl was just too powerful. It made illegal drugs very dangerous. I started to read in the news of the many overdose deaths. I was getting very worried. Unknown to me, Gage was also getting very worried. I began to prepare myself for what I thought was surely going to happen. I began to prepare for my son’s inevitable death.
I’ll share more about Gage’s situation in my next column.
—Darrell Taylor is a retired mental health professional who has lived in the NWT and Nunavut for 20 years. He is originally from Ontario and is a member of the North Bay/Mattawa Algonquins.