Many Paths – One Purpose

Every Action Helps

Written by and for people with Lived Experience - Port Alberni Community Action Team - Families Helping Families

Today’s Learning Moment – 09 14 21 Issue  Many Paths – One Purpose

“I’d like the deaths to stop!” – Me too. In that, we can all agree.

I have to thank someone. It's good to question and challenge ourselves. Recently a person took me to task for the anti-stigma campaign I’ve been actively promoting. Their perspective is that the pictures and messages are stigmatizing in their own right. Even to the point of violating the human rights of those in the demographic depicted in the campaign. That the messages in the campaign are doing more damage than good. Fostering the very same stereotypes, we’re trying to end.

I’d like nothing more than to be fighting a cerebral battle in which logic and facts always win out. If that were the case, we could have ended the poison drug crisis years ago. I could then just provide the facts in my anti-stigma campaign. People and Governments would get on board and accept the facts. I mean, the science is on our side, right? Seems completely rational and so simple. However in the real world Governments, Federally and Provincially continue to drag their feet. Refusing to act as the numbers of deaths climb every single day.

It would be incredibly naïve to think we’ll win the poisoned drug supply crisis through intellectual discussion by itself. No successful social solution I’ve ever seen happened just through logic and facts.

I was also taken to task because it was pointed out to me that not everyone who uses drugs is drug sick. The point being is that our campaign is stigmatizing people functioning perfectly fine. There are truths in the perspective. I know people who function perfectly fine and have for years. They self regulate their usage. Would I personally choose that? Nope, not a chance! The slope is too slippery. The risk is too great.

Is it fair to paint them with the same stereotype brush I mentioned previously? Probably not, however, we’re not talking about a select few who are content and manage the use of their drugs. Our campaign isn’t even targeting the demographic of those mired in drug disorders. We’re targeting the general public who have outdated, unscientific and destructive beliefs about drugs.

We all know that everyone uses drugs in some form or other. The war on drugs made only a few of them illegal. We also know that every last one of us has some form of addiction. Luckily most of us use socially acceptable options or somehow we control our demons — today.

I’m all for decriminalization and I know the only real solution to all the deaths is a controlled safe drug supply. These two principles are the cornerstone of what I believe is the only way forward to stop all the deaths.

That brings me to stigma, because if we had decriminalization and a safe drug supply, then society as a whole would begin to see people who use “hard” drugs as no different than people who smoke, drink or use aspirin. Stigma would hopefully evaporate over time. Wouldn’t that be something??

However, my advocacy isn’t driven by an intellectual discourse on the merits of a lofty assertion that human rights are being trampled on because the Government continues to wage war on people who use drugs. Nope, I’m driven because someone whom I love dearly has a mental illness, substance disorder and lives on the street.

It’s not theoretical for me. I fight in the gutter. I fight dirty. I fight every single day with everything I can do to move the agenda forward. To stop the stigma, to promote harm reduction and to stabilize the social structures that are needed in ending deaths from drugs that are poisoned.

That means grabbing people’s attention. Pushing them to be uncomfortable. Utilizing photos and words that impact at a gut level. It means getting in people’s faces. Showing them that their current beliefs are hurtful and destructive to people with MHSU disorders. That we as a society have failed when there is just one solitary person who is homeless.

Example - Anti-Stigma Campaign

Moving it forward is of course where we can sometimes end up disagreeing on which paths deliver on the end objectives. Some people want to step lightly. Some people want to only push specific ideas. I get that and I appreciate every action taken to moves us forward even in the tiniest ways. However, I can’t wait for people to accept Safe Drug Supply science on its own merits. Hoping and wishing for society to change just because it’s the right thing to do. Nope, it won’t happen that way. I’m afraid that to succeed, some of us are going to have to get down into the mud, get filthy because sometimes the only way forward is to grab people and drag them to the new paradigm.

Let's talk about stigma. The team I’m part of sat down and talked about an anti-stigma campaign several months ago. We see the fight we’re in as being multi-dimensional. Often, we’re addressing many aspects of stigma, harm reduction and social issues. In our latest campaign, we decided to concentrate on a specific demographic. That doesn’t mean that stigma doesn’t impact rich people or blue-collar people or women or all the other various human demographics out there. It just means we picked people who identify as homeless who use substances and who may have a mental illness.

Why you might ask? Well because they are stigmatized in the most horrible ways. What they experience is not just unconscious bias. They live in a world where every single moment is defined by physical and verbal abuse. Where their very lives are at risk. Now don’t think for one second that I view the stigma a blue-collar person lives with is in some way lesser. It doesn’t matter what demographic you’re in, using substances causes stigma. That results in negative outcomes for all the social identifiable groups who use substances.

However, people living on the street with substance use disorder are the recipients of hate, vileness and derogatory behaviour of society at a level unprecedented in other demographics. That’s the reason we decided to highlight them in our current campaign.

That brings me to a very important question. Which comes first? Changing the way people think about homelessness, substance disorder and mental illness or lobbying for decriminalization and safe drug supply?

I don’t think you get decriminalization and a safe drug supply without changing the perceptions of the majority of our society. That takes me back to my perspective of using every last opportunity to cause people to rethink their current beliefs. To question them, to stop seeing homeless people on the street as being sub-human, with no value and wanting to incarcerate or throw them away.

Every visual image in our campaign is designed to make people question their current assumptions and beliefs. They’re intended to generate thought, discussion and awareness. Sometimes it makes people angry. Sometimes they just plain hate the message, however, what they don’t do is ignore it. It’s intentionally too in your face to be able to disregard the messages.

Sometimes I worry that we’ve pushed too hard. Then the BC Coroner’s number come out for another month and I know it’s not hard enough. Since 2016, more than 7700 British Columbians have died. We average five people each and every day! I’m not attached to any specific message or formula. If other’s have better ideas, I’d love to hear the details of their campaign ideas that will deliver real change. In the meantime, I live by the adage that if you’re not actively part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

We’re NOT making enough progress, fast enough with our current strategies of lobbying governments to deliver decriminalization and a safe drug supply. Just look at our current federal election. No party has addressed the issues. The poisoned drug supply crisis is so low on every political party’s agenda that you hardly hear the subjects mentioned. Most candidates run for cover when the poisoned drug crisis subject is brought up. The reason? Because they know the majority of Canadians still believe in the “War on Drugs” strategies of the 1970/’80s. It’s a political landmine for them.

For me, that means we have to utilize every last option to move our agenda forward.

Every last person in our country deserves dignity. They deserve to be treated with respect. No one should be homeless. No one should be forced to source a tainted drug supply. No one should end up in jail because they have personal supplies in their pockets. Those are the human rights I adhere to and the reasons I fight every single day.

A good friend of mine told me last night that each of us at any given time is fighting different parts of the war. Today, my campaign is around changing the public’s perspective on people who have substance disorders and who are also homeless. His fight this week is directed at politicians. Others move the safe drug supply options forward. His analogy is so right on the money. He reminded me that we’re all in it together. That the combined sum of all our work moves us to the final goal – ending deaths from toxic drugs.

YOU can join me. In fact, I have no chance to win without each and everyone one of you joining in this fight. Whichever front of the battle you choose is up to you.

Right now as your read that last sentence, I’m hoping you’re asking yourself, “What Can I do?” Glad you asked 😊 – Time to stand up and be counted. Be courageous. Make your position public. Read all the information you can find. Get knowledgeable on the science. Share posts you believe in on social media. Talk to friends and family about the toxic drug deaths crisis. Write letters to your City councillors, MLA and MP.

However, let me state a very important point. Don’t argue. State your facts and if the other person isn’t ready, move on. Changing society ideas is hard work. Individuals who aren’t ready to hear the message isn’t where we will make progress. It’s the larger population as a whole that we have to move forward.

Lastly and most important of all, let me express my thanks and gratitude to each of you who is standing with us. YOU make a difference no matter what you choose to do. The smallest thing can prevent the loss of another life. NEVER doubt that!

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Author: Ron Merk — Ron is a person with Lived Experience who advocates for families and people with substance disorders and mental health.

Families Helping Families is an initiative of the Port Alberni Community Action Team. We send out “Learning Moment” articles regularly to help folks understand substance illness. Knowledge is vital in understanding the illness of our family members. You may copy, distribute or share our articles as long as you retain the attribution. You can be added to our distribution list by dropping us a note at - albernihelp@gmail.com