Pubdate: Fri, 18 Nov 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Peter O'Neil
Page: A2

EX-ADDICT SHARES PAIN OF B.C. OPIOID DEATHS

25-year-old part of a delegation making case for federal
assistance

OTTAWA - A 25-year-old recovered addict told her sad story on Thursday
to federal cabinet ministers who are forging a national strategy
against Canada's overdose crisis.

Victoria resident Mikaela Mamer was part of Premier Christy Clark's
delegation that is pushing for tougher measures to tackle overdoses
killing two British Columbians a day.

She shared the story of how, after years of alcohol and drug abuse
starting in a small Saskatchewan town at age 13, she went into
treatment at a clinic on Vancouver Island.

Nine months into her recovery she walked into a bathroom to find her
"very best friend" dead of an overdose in the bathtub. Then, in
January of this year, her boyfriend succumbed to the same blight.

Mamer believes she and the mothers of two other victims of the opioid
abuse crisis made an impression on federal Heath Minister Jane
Philpott and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.

"Statistics are one thing, but to see how this is personally affecting
a person, and how it affects their everyday life, is very beneficial,"
she told reporters after the meeting. "So I think it went very well."

Both Clark and her health minister, Terry Lake, said they brought the
women to Ottawa to stress the urgency of the crisis that is certain to
spread east with a vengeance.

"It's a crisis for us in our province, and it's a crisis coming to a
street corner near you," Clark warned the rest of Canada at a news
conference.

Clark and Lake, while praising Ottawa's efforts to ban fentanyl
ingredients and take other measures to deal with the crisis, said more
needs to be done.

Among them is a greater federal investment in RCMP drug interdiction
staffing in B.C., as well as more resources for the Canada Border
Service Agency to reduce the importation of deadly drugs.

Clark, echoing Lake's statements from Wednesday, suggested at a news
conference that the sense of urgency would be higher if Ontario was
suffering at the same pace as B.C.

The 63 overdose deaths a month so far this year in B.C. would
translate into roughly 2,000, a "pretty noticeable" number, if Ontario
was experiencing the problem at the same level, she noted.

"I think that British Columbia has always suffered from being the
province that is the farthest away from the decision-making in Canada."

Philpott and Goodale both appeared to bristle at the suggestion that
they aren't gripped with the issue.

"It was very moving to meet this morning with these two mothers and
with the young woman who has faced addiction herself, and it's very
important that we keep those human stories at the forefront of our
minds," Philpott told reporters.

But Philpott listed federal steps that have included the life-saving
decision to make naloxone, a drug to revive overdose victims, more
readily available.

Ottawa has banned six chemicals used to make fentanyl, and has hinted
that it's about to introduce legislation to make it easier to open
supervised injection sites.

"This is not about laying blame on who is doing more or who is doing
less," a visibly frustrated Philpott, who is co-hosting a national
conference here Friday and Saturday on the crisis, told reporters.
"This is about bringing together all of the partners. We will get this
done."

Goodale also said his government is already taking the crisis
seriously.

"She (Clark) and I are both Western Canadians and we both understand
how critically important this issue is," the Saskatchewan MP told reporters.

"And whether it happens in Vancouver, Victoria or Come by Chance
(N.L.), this is a Canadian issue that demands a strong Canadian response."

Goodale, asked about Clark's complaint that RCMP drug enforcement
resources are 30 per cent below normal in B.C., said Ottawa plans to
spend more on the problem.

"We've indicated that we intend to improve those resources," he
said.

"We're in discussion with all the provinces in terms of how exactly to
do that in the most effective way, because the issue is not a
cookie-cutter identical problem from province to province."

Clark's delegation also included Dr. Evan Wood of the B.C. Centre on
Substance Use, and paramedic and advocate Marilyn Oberg. Joining them
were Leslie McBain, who lost her only son to an overdose two years
ago, and Judy Robertson, whose stepson is an addict in treatment.

Robertson told reporters that Canadians need to realize the
danger.

"It's in all neighbourhoods, it's in all walks of life," she said,
before looking at reporters and adding: "It could be your child."

Statistics have repeatedly shown that B.C. has been hit particularly
hard by the crisis. New numbers, released on Wednesday, show two
deaths a day due to illegal drug overdoses in British Columbia on
average this year - significantly higher than over the same period in
2015.
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