Public Health Emergency: Toxic Drug Crisis
The Okanagan Indian Band Harm Reduction team was formed in 2022 and has established services and programming that has the goal to reduce the community impacts of the Toxic Drug Crisis public health emergency.
If you would like more information on the toxic drug crisis response or services available, please contact 250-241-7595 or harmreduction@okanagan.org.
Dr. Wieman opened the plenary, saying that she was speaking not just as a doctor, but also as an Indigenous woman. She said the FNHA’s harm reduction approach has been to reestablish connection to culture in healing the underlying trauma that is driving the toxic drug crisis.
First Nations people are disproportionately impacted by toxic drugs. Although representing just 3.3 per cent of the population in British Columbia, First Nations represented 16.4 per cent of toxic drug poisoning deaths in 2022.
“Our numbers have gone up and up and up and there has been a terrible collision between the pandemic and the toxic drug crisis,” said Dr. Wieman.
However, she said, it’s important to focus on hope and healing in bringing those numbers down. Things like the three-year trial of decriminalizing possession of some illicit drugs, the creation of the First Nations Virtual Substance Use and Psychiatry Service, and deployment of harm reduction principles are aimed at saving lives.
More importantly, Dr. Wieman said we need to treat people who use substances with dignity, show them compassion, and be mindful of underlying trauma.
“We need to change how we think about, talk about, and choose to treat people who use substances,” she said.
Dr. Nel Wieman, First Nations Health Authority (FNHA)
