All deaths are not equal. The overdose crisis that is mowing down lives in silence in Quebec is a sad demonstration of this.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Overdoses fly under the radar, even though they cause as many deaths as road accidents, which are constantly the subject of news and awareness campaigns.
Impaired driving, excessive speed, texting while driving… Year after year, the province invests six million dollars to promote road safety in heart-rending advertisements. It’s for a good cause: to avoid as many deaths as possible.
For drug awareness and overdose prevention campaigns, the government injects three times less.
No, not all deaths are equal. Because there is us and them. There’s the car accident that could happen to all of us. And the overdoses that affect others, one imagines.
Fake. Very wrong.
In a great punch report, our colleague Philippe Mercure shatters prejudices, by putting faces to this invisible epidemic, the starting point of which is often a prescription for painkillers following a health problem.
We must salute the courage of these individuals and their families who broke the silence by testifying with their visors raised. They are part of the solution by deconstructing the clichés. By showing how the overdose crisis is hitting everywhere, in all regions of Quebec, all social classes and all age groups.
To save lives, two words: destigmatization and decriminalization.
Let’s first talk about the stigma that leads to too often abandoning drug addicts and even recreational users, because we judge, consciously or not, that their behavior is morally reprehensible or reprehensible.
Let’s break this myth: addiction is not a behavioral problem or a lack of willpower. It is a chronic disease that must be treated, just like diabetes or cholesterol.
We would never let a person who has just had a heart attack leave the emergency room without further formalities. However, this is what the majority of hospitals in Quebec do after having saved a person who has just had an overdose.
Quick, let’s administer some naloxone as an antidote… and free the stretcher. Then the patient finds himself in the street, alone with his problems.
But it must be said that few doctors have received full training in addictions, which are not part of the compulsory curriculum in almost all universities. An obvious lack.
And when the patient is taken care of, many pharmacies refuse to serve them the methadone treatment which makes it possible to calm their lack without creating ecstasy. Are they afraid of this kind of clientele? Imagine if they refused to help diabetics.
Once again: two weights, two measures. It is unacceptable. All patients need care. Especially the most vulnerable.
All of this stigma that drug users face is exacerbated by the fact that addiction is treated as a crime, rather than a disease.
This contributes to their isolation. For fear of being arrested by the police, people consume in the shadows, which increases the risk of death since no one can save their life in the event of an overdose.
Decriminalizing hard drugs, such as heroin, remains a big taboo. But society is ready to change.
The City of Montreal has already asked Ottawa to act in this direction. The Public Health Department of Montreal, the Police Department of the City of Montreal also want the decriminalization of drugs, as recommended by the World Health Organization.
Let’s not wait for the crisis to escalate to follow British Columbia’s example. Last May, Ottawa granted him a three-year exemption to remove criminal penalties for people who possess a small amount of illegal substances.
From January, no more arrests, charges and seizures. Instead, the police will refer those who request it to health services. A first in the country, but not around the world, because some countries, such as Portugal, have already made the switch.
Faced with this delicate issue, Quebec could create a cross-partisan committee to think calmly about the best practices to put in place, as we did for medical assistance in dying.
However, the unveiling, on the sly, of Quebec’s new overdose prevention strategy does not give the impression that the Coalition avenir Québec wants to take the bull by the horns, which instead insisted on raising the age of 18 to 21 legal age to buy cannabis.
However, we must see addiction as a disease, not as a crime. The real crime is ignoring the overdose crisis. It is to abandon the most vulnerable who need help to overcome their addiction.