Drug strategists and front line workers put local and provincial politicians in the hot seat during a virtual townhall by saying they are the main obstacle standing in the way of saving lives.
Hosted by regional councillor Rob Deutschman, the June 1 meeting invited front line care workers and drug strategists to come together to talk about the current state of the opiod and addiction crisis in the region and the harsh realities of providing care to its most vulnerable.
"There is a real absence of strategy and it is not a question of if people will die on a large scale level," said drug strategist and town hall speaker, Michael Parkinson."
He thinks politicians need to remove their own political bias around the topic of addiction and treatment and start funding real solutions that will save lives.
"When looking at the CTS in Cambridge, it is clear that there is some political bias there. There are applications for these centres sitting at the province for months just waiting to be approved," he added. "I guess we just keep counting the bodies until we can remove the political from this issue."
The Cambridge safe consumption site has been a contentious topic between city councillors and Cambridge residents. After five years and a strenuous process, the AIDS Committee Of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area (ACCKWA) is finalizing their submission to the province to set up a CTS at 150 Main St. Cambridge.
"It shouldn't be this way, but in Cambridge it is hyper political," added Parkinson. "Why are we even talking about health interventions in municipal council chambers?"
Speakers at the town hall also appealed to local and provincial levels of government to start thinking of the support workers that are dealing with traumatic losses of patients due to drug poisoning.
Sara Escobar, outreach worker and co-founder of Peregrine Outreach Waterloo Region gave an emotional speech and called for the safeguarding of outreach workers and the need to take their mental health into consideration.
She noted that these workers don't have enough time to grieve the loss of their patients and are just supposed to move on to the next one.
"Burnout is real and we're seeing it on every level," said Escobar. "These workers dealing with unexpected deaths all the time and none of us are mentally prepared for this."
Escobar noted if there are no more front line workers to operate safe consumption sites, addiction centres or be out in the community the situation will be far worse than anyone can begin to imagine.
Deutschmann thinks all politicians should be participating in these town halls and hear from the experts in the field to make informed decisions instead of relying on their own political agenda or bias.
He likens the care given to those struggling with drug addiction to those receiving the most up-to-date cancer treatment.
"When cancer patients get treatment we do everything we can to remove it and give them the most effective drugs, it's about time we start doing that with drug addiction," Deutschmann said.
All of the speakers agreed that in the interest of saving money, those who are suffering from drug addiction will be left out of funding opportunities due to the stigma around the issue.
"If we spent the money properly the first time and gave all the funding needed to support these individuals, we would actually be saving money in the long term by preventing these people from dying," said Kathy Moreland, a retired registered nurse and harm reduction advocate. "We can't keep on putting band-aid solutions on these problems, because they aren't working."
Moreland who lost her son at the age of 18 to fentanyl poisoning in June of 2020, compares the current support for the opiod crisis to going to the wild fires in Alberta with a few buckets of water for the sake of doing something.
"It is in the interest of every taxpayer, regardless of whether people care about drug-related issues or not, it just makes financial sense," said Parkinson.
Deutschmann plans to hold more town halls with the intention of furthering the discussion around how support and care is given to those who are affected by drug addiction in the community.
More information on this session and future ones can be found HERE.
