Pubdate: Wed, 15 Jul 2015
Source: Cape Breton Post (CN NS)
Copyright: 2015 Cape Breton Post
Contact:  http://www.capebretonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/777
Author: Elizabeth Patterson
Page: A2

DANGEROUS SIDE EFFECTS

Isolation Keeps Drug Users From Seeking Medical Care

Cape Bretoners need to become more compassionate if a genuine effort 
to help drug users rejoin society and become healthy again is going 
to take place, says a sociologist who has been studying the impact 
that drug use has on people's lives.

With about one drug overdose daily and 600,000 needles being 
distributed to intravenous drug users every year, there's no denying 
that a drug culture exists in Cape Breton. And people can die from 
drug use. But according to sociologist Margaret Dechman, there's 
something even more sinister happening, with drug users becoming 
isolated into not seeking health care when they need it.

"We're looking at how long do people delay before they seek medical 
treatment because we know from talking to the healthcare 
practitioners, by the time they get to the hospital, things are often 
really bad, life-threatening-type bad," said Dechman. "So we need to 
know what's going on because I find this is a terrible thing but I 
get this all the time, and it's like well, ' They're wasting 
taxpayers money. Their accessing our health-care services is wasting 
tax payers money.' But if you're really concerned with taxpayers 
money, if they got the treatment up front, it wouldn't cost nearly as 
much as it's going to cost when they hit emergency.

"They hit emergency with conditions that emergency can't deal with 
because they become so extreme. It's costing a lot more in the long 
run. Even if you're not compassionate about it, from a pragmatic 
point of view this is not good."

Dechman specializes in social exclusion and that's exactly what she 
sees happening to people who use intravenous drugs. While drugs can 
certainly cause problems, the bigger issue emerging is the isolation 
that keeps drug users from seeking medical attention for what can be 
serious health issues.

"The reality is, it's like anything else, there are people who do bad 
things in all of our world," said Dechman. "The reality is, people 
who inject, the vast majority are good people who have had difficult 
life circumstances so they turn to drugs as a way of escaping. But 
meanwhile, they become painted with the brush, with what you hear as 
criminal activities."

Dechman says all humans thrive when they're part of a group and drug 
users need to belong as much as anyone else if they're going to 
overcome their problems.

"They have to be able to go out in the sunlight with the rest of us."

Dechman will present her research at the James McConnell Library on 
Thursday at 6:45 p.m. The study looks at 20 long-term intravenous 
drug users over the age of 19 and was done in conjunction with the 
Ally Centre of Cape Breton and Mental Health and Addictions Services.

[sidebar]

Fast facts:

* In 2014, about one drug overdose each day was reported at Cape 
Breton hospitals.

* About 600,000 needles are distributed each year to intravenous drug users.

* The needles are distributed by people known as natural helpers, 
people who are embedded in the community of users and who may have 
used at one time themselves. They take the clean needles to the drug 
users who don't want to be seen at the needle exchange.

* Margaret Dechman will speak on these issues at the James McConnell 
Library on Thursday at 6:45 p.m.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom