A few metres away from a Downtown Guelph event highlighting the rising issue of drug overdoses in our community Thursday, a man suspected of overdosing was being administered Naloxone.
One of the participants in the St. George’s Square event used a nasal spray containing the medication, meant to reverse the effects of opioids until further medical attention is brought.
People might have thought it was a scripted part of the event had they not seen the man staggering around downtown earlier, clearly out of it.
“They think this only happens in big cities like Toronto and Detroit, but it’s happening right here at home,” said event organizer Moira McClurkin, an outreach worker with Waterloo-based Sanguen Health Centre.
She said she has personally known 32 people in the past 10 years who have died of drug-related deaths in the Guelph community.
“The situation here is really bad. We’re dealing with deaths on a regular basis,” she said, adding that the introduction of fentanyl and the even deadlier carfentanyl to the local drug scene have only made the situation deadlier.
Thursday’s event marked International Overdose Awareness Day.
McClurkin said one in seven Ontarians have received an opioid prescription and last year in Canada 2,458 people died from opioid overdose, more than that died in car accidents.
Volunteers lay on the ground in a “die-in” to represent people having had a drug overdose, a chalk outline drawn around their bodies. After being ‘revived’ with a Naloxone kit, they are replaced by a single white rose to represent hope.
“I don’t think society has grasped how serious the situation is,” McClurkin said.
Adrienne Crowder, manager of the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy, said the drug situation in Guelph is “definitely a major problem in our community.”
“Any death from an opioid overdose is one too many,” Crowder said. “It’s difficult to know how many there are.”
She said anyone that has a defibrillator in their organization should also have a Naloxone kit.
McClurkin said Naloxone kits, which aren’t the “be all and end all,” are still a valuable tool and should be part of people’s first aid kits. They are available for free at most pharmacies, coming in both nasal spray and injection form.
“We must be vocal about overdose. There is no more reason for overdose,” McClurkin said.
“We all have to come together as a community to stop the stigma of drug abuse,” McClurkin said. “They are our daughters, they are our sons, they are our husbands, they are our wives, they are our children.”
McClurkin said there are three rules to drug use: Never use alone, always start small and always have Naloxolone
