The very first purchase of fentanyl on the black market was fatal for a father who became addicted to his drugs, who died of an overdose in front of his wife and nine-year-old son.
“My three children no longer have a father. They deserve a father. It was a bad decision that took all that away from them, ”launches Marie-Hélène Byrne.
David Richard, her husband, died at the age of 31 on July 30, 2021. It was a second overdose of fentanyl in the space of a few days that prevailed.
“I saw his last breath and it is something that traumatizes me. My nine-year-old boy saw the whole scene. I think it’s something that can traumatize a child.”
Shortly before his death, there was no indication that Mr. Richard was going to meet such an end.
“He was a loving father to his three children,” says Byrne. He was going to go back to school a month later. He was going to take a course to become an electrician.”
HIDDEN ADDICTION
This father, however, lived quietly with an addiction to opioids that he had slowly developed since 2015 when he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
“He had been prescribed Ativan to calm him down. At a certain point, it didn’t have enough of an effect. He always needed more, ”says his wife. He then managed to get prescribed Xanax, which in turn became insufficient.
His addiction worsened after he fell from a ladder while painting. A doctor then prescribed him opioids to relieve his back injury.
Become addicted, he saw his life change when his doctor put an end to his prescription.
“It was there that he decided to go and see in the street,” says Marie-Hélène Byrne.
“It was July 29. He decided to go to Montreal, to Berri-UQAM. He got out of the subway and the first person he asked allegedly offered him fentanyl.
According to what he was able to tell his wife before he died, Mr. Richard bought a consumption kit and was told how to use it.
The same day, Mr. Richard took his first overdose by consuming what he had just bought.
FATAL RELAPSE
Saved narrowly by the resuscitation of paramedics and hospitalized, he promised his wife not to touch drugs again.
However, a few hours after his discharge from the hospital, Mr. Richard had a second overdose, this time fatal, in front of his son and his wife.
“I was very sad, but also frustrated. Suddenly, you wonder how this person can lie to you. It shocked me to revive him once and then he did that to me again.”
According to the coroner’s report, what Mr. Richard consumed contained, among other things, fentanyl and etizolam. It was the toxic mixture of these two substances that led to his death.
If Ms. Byrne agreed to testify, it is to warn people and make them “think 100 times before taking fentanyl on the street”.
“I find that there are not enough awareness campaigns, especially in Montreal. There are no signs that talk about the risks of fentanyl, the consequences of buying these substances.