Patients fighting drug addiction say they need more than medication to recover cbc.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cbc.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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.