Sask. harm reduction workers feeling the effects of 'recovery-based' strategy
Three months since the Government of Saskatchewan stopped funding single use pipes and needles for safe consumption sites – those working on the ground with people battling addiction say the effects are clear.
“I watched as we went from everyone being able to be safe, [to] someone in an alley actually using bleach because they found a needle off of the ground to clean it off,” harm reduction outreach worker, Brittany Cook said.
The change in policy came into effect in February. Since then, workers like Cook have called on the province to reverse course.
“We’re simply insisting that the needle exchange be what it was originally intended to be – which is an exchange,” Minister of Mental and Health Addictions Tim McLeod told CTV News. “Over the past decade we saw that needle exchange has turned more into a distribution model which is an unauthorized shift away from their originally intended purpose.”
The province has moved to a “recovery based approach” when it comes to treating those with addictions in Saskatchewan.
While the method is being applauded by those working within the walls of the legislative building – those working in communities, like mental health and addictions counselling student Payton Byrne, are telling a different story.
“The biggest thing that you’re seeing is unsafe use and dangerous use,” Byrne explained. “And in that you’re seeing a lot more hospital admissions, infections, and you’re seeing a lot more paraphernalia that’s being used by multiple people.”
The provincial government continues to offer programs in addition to needle exchanges. However, Cook says these programs don’t always provide the supports needed by those trying to get sober.
“I’m a recovering addict myself and every government based program that I tried … would fail,” she said. “You can’t put someone in a 28 day program and say ‘you’re fixed now.’”
Harm reduction sites are intended to provide a safe space for those with addictions so once they are ready to get sober, they have a starting point with specialist who they’ve already established trust with.
It’s a definition Cook and Byrne explain many people don’t understand if they’ve never visited a location.
“So the supervised consumption sites are not something that our government supports. I was in the Riversdale neighbourhood back before Christmas, but I didn’t attend Prairie Harm Reduction but certainly was there and witnessed the people in that neighbourhood,” McLeod said, after being asked when he had last visited a safe consumption site.
For now, those still making the effort to provide safe consumption supplies explain that they try to gain the resources through community funding, or out of pocket.
Otherwise they’re simply turning people away.
“It hurts when you see people who are addicts and it hurts when you can’t change that but what you can do is give them that love and compassion because people do want to change, people still wanna get sober,” Cook said.
“Its not like they’re dead set on being addicts, for the rest of their lives but for some people it’s all they know.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
Passenger killed, 30 injured as Singapore Airlines flight hits severe turbulence
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Conservatives kick off return to House with new call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign
Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives returned to the House of Commons on Tuesday with a renewed call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign, this time over 'very partisan' and 'inflammatory' language used to promote an upcoming event.
Trump campaign calls 'The Apprentice' 'blatantly false,' director offers to screen it for him
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Feels like mid-30s in parts of Canada, while other areas expecting snow
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Nestle to sell $5 pizza, sandwiches in the U.S. for Wegovy, Ozempic users
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
How much more Canadian consumers are paying, compared to this time last year
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
Amal Clooney is one of the legal experts who recommended war crimes charges in Israel-Hamas war
Amal Clooney is one of the legal experts who recommended that the chief prosecutor of the world's top war crimes court seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the militant Hamas group.
Flight PS752 victims' families say they're not sorry to hear of Iran president death
Members of a Canadian group representing families of those killed when Iranian officials shot down Flight PS752 in January 2020 say they are not sorry to hear of the death of Iran's president.