Max is speaking ins support of Supervised Consumption Services to the SCS Review Panel Open House on September 18, 2019.

Hello my name is Max.

I have 2 sisters, one is alive and one isn’t. We grew up in a middle-class family. My father started his own construction company when he was 24 years old and was a respected tradesmen and business owner for over 30 years. Both my parents worked hard to provide for their family. We traveled more than many other families, both abroad and across Alberta as my dad would pack up my sisters and I when he had projects out of town. We loved spending time with him and getting to know the Alberta that he loved.

In 2014, our father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and my youngest sister Zoe, who had just turned 16 took this news very hard and became depressed and withdrawn. My parents did the best they could to support her as all parents do when their child is ill while our family faced my dad's cancer diagnosis as well. They visited our family doctor who suggested they keep my sister busy and prescribed medication for depression. A psychologist and later a psychiatrist were also consulted who also prescribed medication.

Somewhere during this time of trying to find Zoe proper help, she discovered cannabis, and she liked how it calmed her much more than what she was taking already. When Zoe started high school, the anxiety worsened and in school she discovered the availability of oxycodone, MDMA, ecstasy and other forms of illicit drugs. Make no mistake that junior high and senior high school is sadly where dependency oftentimes begins for youth and Zoe was no exception. Before my family realized it, she had developed a dependence on these products. We watched a vibrant, athletic, extremely bright young girl wither into someone unrecognizable and troubled. Her addiction to drugs alienated her, criminalized her and stigmatized her before a lethal poisoning from fentanyl killed her on November 7, 2016.

I’m here today because our provincial government has chosen to evaluate the social and economic impacts of the current and proposed supervised consumption sites in the province and I needed to voice my concern about this. The sites both open and proposed in this province are extremely important. These were not in place in 2016 when my sister began using drugs intravenously. This is something that my family and I are concerned with every day when we hear about sites being targeted for closure or not being funded appropriately. My sister died alone at the age of 18. The people she lived with did not have naloxone and were frightened to call 911 for fear of being arrested. If she had had access to supervised consumption services she could have used safely and not have overdosed because of the poisoned drugs she purchased. Zoe might be alive today.

To the panel members, I’m sure you have heard of all the merits of these sites as we come towards the end of the process, but I will state them one more time for myself. The medical efficacy of supervised consumption services in keeping people as safe as possible while connecting them to services that could help them further is critical. There has not been an overdose death at any site in Alberta. And for every dollar spent on harm reduction, we save 5 dollars in other medical costs.

You have heard stories from citizens who are scared of sites in their neighborhoods. People have spoken in previous town halls about finding discarded needles and how they feel that sites are a haven for degenerates and criminals. These words sting. My sister was more than those words. Drug dependency does not discriminate and people who used drugs have pasts and families who love them deeply.

What is important is that we ensure that the proper services are available to keep people alive not just with supervised sites, but beyond the sites with medically assisted treatment for some, as well as supportive housing, detox facilities and treatment spaces. All people in this city and province are worthy of care. All people. When my dad was battling cancer not one oncologist told him he wasn’t worthy of care and he was shown respect and compassion until he passed away in May of 2018.

I understand that there is also so much frustration and misunderstanding towards people who use drugs. Before my sister died of fentanyl poisoning I was ignorant to the failure of the drug policies in our country and around the world. I felt that people who were addicted to drugs had made a choice and that they were to blame for their behaviour and that they should just stop using drugs. After seeing my sister brain dead in a hospital bed I do not feel that way anymore. This wasn’t something she could have just stopped doing. Unless you experience this, you don’t understand. I hope everyone sitting in this room thinks about the families that are affected the next time you see a person on the street who is vulnerable.

Some people believe that safe consumption sites are enabling people who use drugs and view them as a band aid solution. The reality is that before people can move to recovery from the crisis of addiction and overdose that is gripping our country, they have to be alive to do so. My family learned the hard way that forced or mandatory detox is not effective. Supervised consumption services offer overdose reversals first and then provides mental health support and other services to help people. By meeting people where they are, SCS can connect them to life saving resources, curb illicit and unsafe behaviors and ultimately reduce the public costs associated with addiction and overdoses as I mentioned earlier.

It is my hope that this review panel will do the right thing in honour of the life of my sister Zoe and the other 2,182 people who have died since January 2016 from overdose and the hundreds of clients who are using SCS every day. I respectfully ask that your review will show that all Edmonton sites remain open and that they are funded accordingly and that furthermore more sites should be opened to address the rate of death that we are experiencing.

My sister died alone from fentanyl poisoning – it could be your loved one who dies alone tomorrow.

I fully support harm reduction and safe consumption services and hope you will too.

Thank you.

Max