Fred Cameron was on Pandora Avenue on Thursday — International Overdose Awareness Day — doing what he does 365 days a year: reminding people that he is there for them should they need help, or if they are ready to embark on a journey of recovery.
He knows that journey well — he was addicted to a variety of drugs for almost 20 years before turning his life around eight years ago.
He also knows how difficult it is to overcome addiction.
“I tried many times to turn my life around. I couldn’t. I just wasn’t ready. At one time I considered myself as a write-off — as did my family,” said Cameron, 43, who has been in recovery since 2015. “Detox was not easy by any means, but my recovery was made possible by help from Island Health, the Umbrella Society and others.”
Cameron started volunteering with SOLID Outreach Society, which provides peer-based heath education and harm reduction to people who use substances, and eventually got a job with the organization. He now serves as its program director.
He said what sets the society apart from other substance-abuse programs is its belief that abstinence from drugs is just one route to recovery.
“Our first priority is to keep them alive,” said Cameron, who is originally from Edmonton. “We see ourselves as a platform from where addicts can map out what recovery means to them — even if that means they continue using drugs. I don’t judge them. I just want to be there when someone asks for help.”
SOLID offers peer support, programming, harm-reduction supplies and referrals for detox and housing. Most of the staff have had life experience with substance use.
He said that people who use substances need “more of everything” — harm-reduction supplies, safe drugs, safe-consumption sites and more spaces for detox and recovery.
Long wait times to get addicts into treatment programs can be a death sentence for them.
More than 190 people in the province died in July from toxic, unregulated drugs — the 13th consecutive month the death toll has been that high, the B.C. Coroners Service said this week.
The coroners service said 1,455 deaths in B.C. were attributed to toxic drugs from January to July — the largest number ever reported by the agency in the first seven months of a year.
“It is heartbreaking watching people die in record numbers,” said Evan James, manager of training and education at the Umbrella Society.
“The tragedy is that there were people who wanted to change, who wanted help, but died while waiting to get into recovery. I don’t understand why government isn’t pouring everything that we got into this. They have talked a good game lately, but we haven’t seen much of a difference yet.”
He said that having recovery programs and resources available in a timely manner is key.
“The window to act can be small. Even a few weeks can make a difference,” said James, who calls addiction a sneaky, progressive disease that some people don’t realize they have until it is too late.
The 42-year-old said he went from drinking only on weekends to every night. It took him three to four tries over 10 years to finally beat his addiction to alcohol, cocaine and crack in 2010. He considers himself lucky to be alive, as he stopped just before fentanyl appeared on the scene.
“I probably wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
Based on his own experience, he said what motivates an addict to reach out for treatment can vary — it can come from a moment of clarity, loss of a relationship, overdosing or from just being sick and tired of always being sick and tired.
Some addicts only turn to help after hitting rock bottom, but there is a danger with that.
“The ultimate rock-bottom is death,” said James.
September is National Recovery Month, when people celebrate their sobriety and organizations raise awareness of their addiction recovery resources.
“We want to show people that they can beat their addiction — and that we are here for them,” James said
