Saskatchewan has once again broken its own dismal record with more than 400 people killed from confirmed or suspected drug overdoses during 2021.
Regina’s mother, Heather Balfour, knows what it’s like to lose a loved one to an overdose, after losing her daughter in 2019.
“She was so talented musically,” Heather said of her daughter, Rachel Balfour.
Rachel loved dance, gymnastics, and anything that brought her together with friends.
“Giving, sweetheart, she was always taking care of other people,” Heather said.
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Her mother said that Rachel showed signs of anxiety and depression in high school, but that she was a brilliant student who loved games and coding.
Rachel’s success in school led her to the University of Alberta to study computer science.
The classes were challenging, but there were still no red flags, until February 2019, when the family hadn’t heard from her in a few days.
“The most devastating thing that can happen to anyone is that the Regina Police Service showed up on our doorstep to inform us that they had found her dead in her college dorm,” Heather said.
Coincidentally, Rachel’s father and sister were home that day as well, which Heather says is a blessing that the family was able to be together when the heartbreaking news broke.
“Just devastating, I mean, we just collapsed. When it came completely out of nowhere like that, it was just shocking and absolutely devastating. “
It took the family four and a half months to learn that Rachel died of fentanyl poisoning.
Heather said the family had no idea that Rachel was using drugs.
“She was never sick, she never missed school. There were just no signs, ”Heather said.
“To this day, we don’t know if she had been a regular user (or) was this an exception? I have imagined all kinds of things in my mind about what could have happened. “
Throughout her experience, Heather has a message that she wants to share with others.
“Don’t think it can’t happen to you because three years ago, I wouldn’t have had the idea that this was a risk in my life.”
Heather’s kind of loss is felt by the families of 406 people in Saskatchewan who died of suspected or confirmed overdoses during the first eleven months of 2021. It surpasses the all-time high of 328 recorded in 2020.
The Saskatchewan mental health and addiction minister said these figures are concerning.
“It is a staggering number and it concerns us, of course, as a government and myself as the minister responsible for mental health and addictions,” Everett Hindley told Global News.
Hindley also recognized that all communities are affected by the crisis, from the main centers of Regina and Saskatoon, to smaller communities, as well as First Nations in remote and northern areas.
The province’s throne speech promised to add 150 treatment spaces over the next three years.
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The take-home naloxone program has expanded, along with a drug control strip project. In its most recent budget, the Saskatchewan government committed $ 458 million to address mental health and addictions.
But sometimes the budget story is less about what was funded and more about what was not.
Once again, Saskatoon’s Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR) was denied provincial money for its supervised use site, a place where people can use drugs under the supervision of medical staff. The government rejected the request for $ 1.3 million from PHR.
“Yes, I think it’s pretty clear in which direction this administration is comfortable, which is killing hundreds of people,” said PHR CEO Jason Mercredi.
Hindley said the provincial government is awaiting the findings of the Saskatchewan drug task force, which will recommend future approaches to the drug crisis facing the province.
“That may include supervised consumer sites, it may involve expanding into new areas that we had not entered into, and perhaps also expanding existing programs and supports,” Hindley said.
Hindley said the province is always looking for new and innovative ways to tackle the crisis.
The provincial government recently committed $ 300,000 to Muskwa Lake Wellness Camp, which provides ground intervention to address alcoholism and overdose deaths in northern Saskatchewan communities.
This year, commissioners from the Saskatoon Police Board sought a report on the possibility of decriminalizing personal drug possession, among other ways to help people with addictions outside of the criminal justice system.
“I think that’s important. In general, that already happens, but there may be some gaps in the availability of some of those health-related services, ”said Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper.
About 20 percent of calls to the Saskatoon police have some mental health or addiction component.
“We saw it really start to increase in 2020 and we saw it increase exponentially in 2021,” Cooper said.
“The number of people dying from drug toxicity is increasing year after year after year,” Heather said.
Despite her loss, Heather considers herself lucky to find support among friends, family, and her community.
So she started a Regina chapter of Healing Hearts to help other families affected by the devastating effects of drug use. Meetings will continue in 2022 with the support group offering comfort when families need it most.
—With a file on David Giles
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Reference-globalnews.ca