Moira Wyton, Local Journalism Initiative
Patients like Shaun Venturini use agonists like methadone to reduce or end their dependence on the toxic street drug supply. But the treatment is still inaccessible to many.
Image Credit: Jesse Winter June 11, 2021 - 7:00 PM Laura Shaver’s phone rings at all hours. It rings when she and her partner are dealing with mould in their apartment, interrupting texts to their landlord. Calls from Ontario come in at six in the morning, where it’s already an acceptable time to do business but Shaver is still asleep. She’s just one person, but it’s Shaver’s job to answer the phone. As Providence Health’s peer navigator for opioid agonist therapy, or OAT, she’s the point person for people who use drugs and are seeking access to substitutes for opioids, a first-line treatment in British Columbia where the street drug supply has grown increasingly toxic.
by Charlie Smith on February 11th, 2021 at 3:00 PM 1 of 1 2 of 1
There was a record number of illicit-drug overdose deaths in British Columbia in 2020. And the Canadian Association for Safe Supply has linked this high number to inaction on the part of the provincial government.
According to the group s cofounder, Jordan Westfall, the province was caught flat-footed during a pandemic when we needed physical distancing and safe supply .
In a news release, he said that few could access that supply and it wasn’t exactly safe, although patients were never told that.” That needs to change, Westfall said, 83,000 people struggle with opioid dependence placing them at higher overdose risk.