By Tim Collins
As 2023 arrived, the BC Coroners Service reported that 2,272 people had died of drug overdoses in the previous year. That number was only slightly lower than the previous year.
Most of those deaths didn’t occur on the street amongst the homeless but in private homes. The main victims were middle-aged men.
The stats for 2023 will be no better.
“I can’t even say that there is more addiction,” said Liz Nelson, the executive director of the Pacific Centre Family Services Association. “There have always been addiction issues in society, but the difference is the nature of the drugs around these days. They are killing people.”
Nelson’s association is a non-profit registered charity and among the issues they tackle are drug and alcohol addiction.
“There are certainly more issues arising from addiction … we’re seeing a lot more harm associated with drug addiction.”
The main culprit is fentanyl, a drug that is 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, according to the CDC. It is a prescription narcotic but, either in its pure form or as a synthetic, it has worked its way into the drug supply chain with disastrous results. It’s frequently taken without the users even knowing that they are taking it.
“In recent drug seizures (on the Westshore) most of what looks like and was being sold as oxycodone by drug dealers was actually fentanyl,” said West Shore RCMP Cpl. Nancy Saggar.
“Illegal drug users can’t ever be sure of what they’re taking.”
The answer to addiction, however, is elusive.
According to Nelson, addiction is most often a symptom of something else going on in a person’s life.
That was certainly the case for Royal Savoie.
At the age of 51, Savoie has now been clean and sober for 11 months. He has been addicted to alcohol, cocaine and a host of other drugs since his early teens and has lost friendships, jobs, and ruined relationships (he missed his best friend’s wedding), and damaged his family, largely because of his addictions.
“A big epiphany for me came when my friend Wayne died. He was an addict and had always been sort of a road map for me,” said Savoie. “What he went through, both physically and mentally was where I was going. I would get to that same place, only a few months or a year later.
“I was always a master manipulator. I could cry on the spot to make excuses to hold onto a job, but I lost so much along the way. After so many broken promises to my daughter, my wife and others, I finally knew that it was time to get my life back.”
Savoie went through detox and has found his personal support system by attending a recovery program but acknowledges that there is no single solution for addicts.
“I am willing to share my story because I want to send a message that if you’re suffering, you don’t have to be alone. There is help and there is a life after you hate yourself.”
He recalled how, as a professional MC, he did his first event while sober when he was hired to MC the last concert event at Western Speedway.
“It was amazing,” said Savoie.
Nelson agrees that addicts need to realize that help is there if they want it.
“We are only one of several organizations dealing with the issue and we see about 300 clients seeking help for addiction, just from the Westshore catchment area,” said Nelson. “And you must realize that that number is just the tip of the iceberg. But we can’t help people until they seek help,” she said.
“Admitting that you need help is the hardest part. I was always able to maintain a façade, to deny that I needed to stop,” said Savoie. “Even when I was supposed to pick up my daughter for a visit and I was still doing lines [of cocaine] and my wife would call and tell me that my daughter was sitting on the curb crying and asking where daddy was, I still didn’t get it.”
“One thing is certain, we can’t arrest our way out of an addiction pandemic,” said Saggar. “A more collective approach is needed where proactive measures are used to help people with their addictions.”
“There is help out there and there is no judgment when you come in for help, either to us or to any of the other agencies who are there to help,” said Nelson. “I know it can be scary to make that first phone call, but it’s important to realize that you don’t have to do this alone.”
And while Savoie agrees, he has one last bit of advice, based on his own experience.
“You can love yourself again and once you’re on the road (to recovery) it’s important to find things that make you smile. Just being sober isn’t enough. You have to use that to find the joy in the world and you won’t find it in drugs.”
The Pacific Family Resource Center can be contacted by calling 866 478 8357.
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