A group of people in Maple Ridge are concerned their voices are becoming lost during an election campaign where toxic drugs continue to kill people in the community.
Members of the Maple Ridge Street Outreach Society, MRSOS, meet every week at the CEED Centre in Maple Ridge, where they discuss the ongoing crisis.
The society provides networking, support, advocacy, and education to people who use drugs, all done by people who also use drugs.
Lately, though, the group has become disheartened with the number of deaths every month across the city.
Last year the BC Coroners Service reported there were 43 deaths due to unregulated drugs across Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
However, some of those at a recent MRSOS meeting contend the numbers are a lot higher than what is reported by the provincial agency.
Jeannine Whitnum lost her daughter to the toxic drug crisis in 2021. Two days before she was to turn 26.
Another person said a lot of people don't even know how to grieve anymore, because it is so often that somebody they know passes away.
There are six people in the group who carry Narcan, which one person said they use about once a week to help a person overdosing.
The group wants to see a safe supply of drugs more available and more Overdose Prevention Sites.
According to the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, since 2021, there has been a "safer supply" policy which enables people to access a range of medications through prescription to reduce the risk of drug toxicity deaths due to accessing the illicit drug supply.
The policy was introduced as a harm reduction approach to reduce the risks of illicit drug toxicity events and deaths.
Earlier this year, after some controversy over prescribed opioids under the policy being trafficked on the streets, the model moved to a health care provider witness-only program.
Debbie Picco, a volunteer with MRSOS, who lost her own son, Tommy Picco, in 2020 to the toxic drug crisis, said local politicians must have a tentative plan to resolve the complexities of drug deaths and social determinants of health.
"This includes improved access to affordable housing and increases in harm reduction programs to ensure that people who use substances live to get treatment.
Detox, treatment, and recovery programs must be regulated and affordable, and available when needed," she said.
Her concerns are echoed by local experts.
Mo Korchinski, board chair at Alouette Addictions and executive director of Unlocking the Gate, said safe supply is needed – whether that be condoms, clean pipes, clean needles, clean drugs, or methadone.
"You can't help a dead person," said Korchinski. "The whole point is making sure we are keeping everybody alive."
Korchinski believes there not only needs to be better access to treatment, but better access to detox, aftercare, and more mental health services.
"I have so many people sitting in jail, who, you know, sit there weeks and months, you know, sometimes waiting to get a bed because they want to go to treatment," she explained. "And they end up just waiting for their sentence to be done and get out and, you know, go through that cycle again."
Doug Sabourin, executive director of Alouette Addictions, agrees with the notion of safe supply. He referred to a recent RCMP bust of fentanyl labs in Langley, Pitt Meadows, and Mission.
"If you look at those meth labs, they're very elaborate, they look like they have an industrial capacity, and they are producing fentanyl locally," he said.
Safe supply is needed, Sabourin noted, because these toxic drugs are killing people.
The problem is fentanyl is getting stronger and stronger. Sabourin said he has heard stories from people who live in the northern areas of B.C. who have told him about a new strain of fentanyl that is highly toxic. Three people, he reported, died from this strain in Fort St. John in just one week.
And, he added, Maple Ridge has had a lot of fentanyl deaths, compared to the population.
"We're struggling to find the right formula. How to get people off the street, off these illicit, toxic drugs that are likely to kill them more often than not," he stated.
Opioid agonist treatment, or methadone treatment, while it's less toxic and less addictive, is still only a replacement of one opioid for another.
Sabourin is excited about successes they are having with the sublocade Suboxone, a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone, that is given to adults to treat opioid addiction.
It's an injection, that is highly regulated, and doesn't work for everyone. But, Sabourin described it as a huge breakthrough locally because people are able to ween themselves off quickly, within months, he said.
Sabourin is concerned that the general public have become indifferent to the issue.
"I think people sort have either internalized it or think, well, it doesn't happen to me," said Sabourin.
Addiction has to be dealt with one person at a time – dealing with the person's background, the level of addiction, the amount of years they've been addicted, what they are addicted to, their mental health. Chronic poverty, chronic addiction, chronic homelessness, are all part of the problem, Sabourin said.
"Quite frankly, what we believe at Alouette Addictions is that all services have to begin with safe, secure housing," he said. "Once we've got that dealt with then we can deal with the longer term issue of addiction and poverty and mental illness."
Enforced treatment and recovery is just one way of dealing with the issue.
However, he said, there are recovery facilities in the Fraser Health region which are partially closed due to staffing challenges because of a shortage of nurses and doctors. And, he added getting people to recovery is difficult, not to mention keeping them in recovery.
And, Sabourin added, there needs to be many options available for people, including Overdose Prevention Sites.
Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy and fire chief Dave Samson attended a meeting of MRSOS recently to learn more about the work they do in the community and the challenges they are facing.
"The toxic drug crisis continues to have a devastating impact on communities across B.C., including Maple Ridge. Addressing this requires collaboration, compassion and a coordinated response," said Ruimy, clarifying that the city works in partnership with health authorities and senior levels of government to support community health and safety.
Picco was happy with the meeting, and hopes the mayor will come to another meeting later in the year with some updates.
"The clarity he provided was quite satisfying in some issues, but there is still a belief that more needs to be done to support the unhoused and prevent deaths from toxic drugs," she said.
