Sask. task force consults affected people on what is driving the drug crisis and how to solve it

Saskatchewan people directly affected by the overdose crisis have shared what they think has fuelled the overdose crisis — and what could be done to help the situation — with the provincial government.

Now a provincial team is set to create a plan based on its findings.

Researchers, community leaders and people who work with others living with addiction were all consulted for the province's drug task force — a multi-sector group tasked with the growing addictions issue. 

Praxis Consulting Ltd. pulled together the community engagement results, using interviews with the leaders and focus groups of community-based organizations and people with lived experiences. The government released the in-depth findings on Thursday.

The provincial task force was first announced in 2017. Since then, hundreds of lives have been lost as Saskatchewan has seen record numbers of people dying from drugs. Participants in these consultations also said the pandemic worsened the already escalating crisis.  

Support for safe consumption sites

People with lived experiences identified needed changes.

They highlighted a need for reduced wait lists for addictions and mental health services, increased capacity and hours at detox, treatment and aftercare centres, the decriminalization of drugs, access to a safe drug supply and support for harm reduction services — including supervised consumption sites. 

"When you go through and sift through it, it's pretty loud and clear that these sites should be funded," said Jason Mercredi, who spearheaded the opening of the province's first supervised consumption site in Saskatoon. 

The site has consistently been denied government funding.

It wasn't only people with lived experiences identifying a need to support supervised consumption sites. People from from community based organizations, Saskatchewan's Association of Social Workers and Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit said the same thing. 

Mercredi is crossing his fingers for provincial budget day on Mar. 23.

"We're hopeful that the province is going to listen to the community and people who use drugs and say that they're going to fund the safe consumption sites," he said. "You want to believe that people are actually here for the community and not just for their own political gain."

More provincewide programming needed

Mercredi wants the government to allocate new money for new addictions and mental health initiatives. 

"We need some direct programming funded — long-term, sustainable, direct programming — across the whole province, not just for the big cities, but for the rural and northern communities." 

People consulted shared similar thoughts. Members of community based organizations noted the drug crisis doesn't exist in a vacuum. They listed several complicating factors around addictions, such as homelessness, mental health, poverty and intergenerational trauma. 

They said there needs to be support for people's basic needs like food, housing, income and harm reduction programming. They shared concerns about long wait lists, too-short treatment programs and unco-ordinated support services.

The expansion of culturally based, trauma-informed, Indigenous-led programs and policy was another solution they emphasized. 

Papers offer evidence-based recommendations 

The government also released four "discussion papers" authored by frontline workers, researchers and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses for the drug task force.

A joint paper submitted by the Registered Psychiatric Nurses Association of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Association of Social Workers (SASW) identified the need for substance use programs that allow families to remain together. Another paper by SASW recommended the government provide direct funding to harm reduction services and targeted funding for safe consumption sites.

"Currently, there is a lack of government funding support for community-based harm reduction initiatives, especially safe consumption sites. The evidence for safe consumption sites is clear; they reduce harm, save lives, and result in overall cost savings." 

Mercredi said those outcomes are clear at the Saskatoon site.

"We actually have improved community safety around our building. We've engaged countless people that were deemed lost causes and we got them engaged in addiction services, housing, health care... [kept] them out of the emergency room and jail cells." 

The Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit wrote that if the government wants to reduce fatal outcomes of overdose it should scale up: 

• Access to supervised drug consumption rooms and immediate first-aid.
• Ubiquitous and low-barrier access to Naloxone training and kits.
• Public education and outreach

The government identified its priorities from the consultations as "hot spotting (strategies to help people at highest risk in specific geographic regions), stigma reduction and trauma-informed services, community engagement and partnerships, co-ordination of services, and community drug alerts." 

It says the task force will now use these priorities to create a work plan.