‘Addictions care is health care,’ say activists on the toxic drug crisis
Addictions care should be protected from privatization and kept in the public health care system, argued a panel of harm reduction advocates and practitioners on Monday night.
The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition’s D.J. Larkin, Friends of Medicare’s Chris Gallaway and social work professor Valerya Edelman joined the Canadian Health Coalition’s Anne Lagacé Dowson for a conversation on real solutions to Canada’s toxic drug crisis on November 4 on Zoom. The webinar is now available for viewing here –
DJ Larkin is a lawyer and the executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. They opened the webinar with a reminder: “We can’t think in statistics because we are losing friends.”
For Larkin, the toxic drug crisis should be “conceived of as a preventable policy-driven mass death event over the last many years.”
Larkin says more community engagement is crucial to stopping the blaming of the problem on the homeless.
Larkin noted that the federal government has failed to support compassion clubs at the community level model despite the evidence of it having dramatically better health outcomes.
The compassion club model is inspired by cannabis compassion clubs and buyers’ clubs, which emerged in the 1980s and 1990s in response to the AIDS epidemic. The clubs provide safe access to drugs or medicines.
“If we believe in universal health care, we need to reconceptualize that universal health care is for everyone and these modalities of care around substance use need to be incorporated properly into the universal health care systems,” said Larkin.
“We know that it’s also hurting workers because there are so many people having urgent medical emergencies related to the unregulated supply. Emergency workers can’t keep up,” added Larkin.
Chris Gallaway is the executive director of the Alberta-based Friends of Medicare.
“We believe addictions care is health care and the mental health is health care and that harm reduction is health care. These services should be run and delivered as part of our public health care system,” said Gallaway.
Gallaway explained Alberta’s approach to dealing with toxic drug overdoses as “a strategy of privatization. It’s about profits.”
He noted how Alberta turned a publicly owned addictions treatment centre into a private facility. “We know it’s about busting the unions and it’s about lowering the regulations of the care being provided.”
“In Alberta, addictions counselors are an unregulated profession. Anyone can be an addictions counselor here,” added Gallaway.
Valerya Edelman is an assistant professor at St. Thomas University’s School of Social Work. She has worked in mental health and addictions since 1998, including in Vancouver’s downtown eastside and Fredericton.
Edelman raised concerns with ‘us and them’ thinking. She referenced Dr. Gabor Maté’s definition of addiction, “note his definition includes any substance use, any behavior that can provide temporary pleasure or relief. Who doesn’t want temporary relief. It’s a very human thing to want.”
“Dr. Maté’s also explained how childhood trauma reduces pathways for endorphins and opiates serve to release endorphins. Endorphins alleviate pain and deliver a sense of well-being and inner peace. Who doesn’t want to experience relief from physical, emotional and spiritual pain? Who doesn’t want a sense of well-being? Opiate use and addictions are understandable human experiences,” stated Edelman.
“Archaic laws push people into the margins, into isolated conditions where secrecy feels safer than stigma even when there’s a risk of overdose,” added Edelman.
Edelman encouraged resistance to individualizing the problem: “By addressing structural violence, we can shift from shaming and blaming to relationships that center respect and dignity.”
Upcoming webinars –
November 21 at 7:00 PM ET – Dr. Nisha Kansal on providing health care to migrants. Get the Zoom link here.
In case you missed one of our previous webinars, you can watch the webinars and other video resources on the Canadian Health Coalition’s Youtube channel.
Support the Canadian Health Coalition
