This text is part of the special edition Pride Montreal
At the forefront of the opioid crisis in Montreal, the Village and its residents, whose fatigue is well and truly set in. On the ground, the work of community organizations is complicated by growing opposition from local residents, funding deemed insufficient, and a limited prospect of improvement.
“Historically, the Village is a neighbourhood frequented by marginalized populations,” says Émilie Roberge, coordinator of outreach teams at Spectre de rue. From its offices on Ontario Street, the organization witnesses one of the effects of this marginalization every day: the opioid crisis and the explosion of overdoses that goes with it.
For the coordinator, only part of the problem is attributable to the substances, which are increasingly contaminated. She instead points the finger at the “criminalization of drugs and poverty,” which would push users to isolate themselves to consume, thus reducing their chances of being helped in the event of an overdose.
Deterioration and lack of cohesion
“The situation we’re facing right now is the accumulation of a lot of social flaws,” Émilie Roberge criticizes. She says she’s not very optimistic about the current political and economic context, in which “even with a stable and relatively decent salary, people are not able to afford housing.”
Louis Letellier de St-Just, a health law lawyer and chairman of the board of directors of the Association des ingénieurs en dépendance du Québec, made the same observation. In downtown Montreal, the crisis has reportedly worsened.
The most significant development over the past year, however, would be the deterioration of relations with residents living in the neighbourhood, he observes. In 35 years of involvement in the community, the co-founder of Cactus Montréal, an organisation specialising in risk reduction, has never experienced “such virulent opposition from local residents”.
“Questioning the presence of community organizations that work with people who have drug addiction and mental health issues is worrying for access to services,” he warns. Louis Letellier of St-Just deplores a “lack of cohesion between the different actors to support community organizations,” who are at their wit’s end.
Daily Grief
Émilie Roberge agrees: “needs are exploding, and services are not meeting demand.” At Spectre de rue, for example, only three cubicles are dedicated to supervised consumption, which results in waiting times that sometimes exceed an hour. “It’s unrealistic to think that people in need will wait that long when they can consume elsewhere,” hidden, and therefore put themselves in danger.
Psychologically, too, the conditions are difficult. “People are in almost constant mourning” because of the overdoses, she says, and the response teams are not spared. “We find ourselves in a dual role, in which we have to live our own mourning, but also learn the news and intervene in relation to what it makes them feel,” she describes.
A crisis that appears to be a black hole, from which some bright spots are nevertheless emerging. Distributed free of charge in pharmacies since 2017 to anyone over the age of 14, naloxone acts as a temporary antidote, delaying the lethal effects of an overdose by a few minutes, the time it takes for help to arrive. Several resources also offer a drug analysis service, which can detect the degree of contamination of the product before it is consumed.
Think collectively
“There is no quick solution,” believes Émilie Roberge, who advocates for more funding, street workers, resources open 24 hours a day, and adapted accommodations trained in supporting consumers. More services, therefore, and more diversified services.
Continue to adapt to the context, argues Louis Letellier of St-Just, giving the example of the surge in opioid inhalation, to which he calls for a response by opening more supervised inhalation centres.
But the first step, according to him, would be to “be able to bring all the stakeholders to the same table,” from the Ministry of Health and Social Services to the Ministry of Justice, including police forces and community organizations, not to mention local residents. To imagine a way out of the crisis, it will take a village.
The 15th of July, The duty revealed that simple possession of drugs — without the intention of trafficking and with some exceptions — has been decriminalized in Quebec since last year. But almost no one was informed, not even the police. While this announcement does not please all stakeholders in the field, some see this measure positively. Could this be a first step toward decriminalizing drug use, a solution called for by many of them, which aims to reduce stigma and direct users toward health care and social services?
This content was produced by the Special Publications Team of Dutyrelevant to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part in it.