Vancouver faces similar drug crisis; debate over emergency response

This Overdose Awareness Week, KPIX looks at the opioid crisis through the combined experiences of San Francisco and Vancouver, another city hit particularly hard over the past decade.

There may be two cities with different approaches, There is a very similar debate in every city about what the procedure should be in an emergency.

“It's too easy to get trapped here,” said Jeffrey Brocklesby, a drug user from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. “Once you're in that five-by-two-block radius, you have everything you need to sustain your habit without having to do much.”

Whether in the streets and alleys of Vancouver or San Francisco's Tenderloin, one obstacle to addressing the opioid crisis is that drugs are everywhere. Brocklesby said he has tried the treatment program offered at the downtown safe-use facility.

“It didn't work for me,” he said. “Maybe I wasn't ready, or maybe the environment in the middle of nowhere was too much for me.”

And that's one of the reasons why help often comes from outside the city.

“So this is a place where your mom and your kids can go and feel safe and comfortable,” said Giuseppe Ganci of the Last Door Recovery Society. “It's helped this community too. Our neighbors love us. We take care of the lawns.”

About 30 minutes from downtown, you'll find Ganci's group and a number of other organizations based in New Westminster, now considered Canada's recreation capital.

“We have become a voice for rebuilding in Canada,” Ganci explained. “And with that comes a certain responsibility. And a certain negativity. Everyone has an opinion.”

Like 90 percent of the staff here, Giuseppe Ganci is himself in recovery. He believes that recovery, the emphasis on a path away from opioid addiction, is overshadowed by efforts to reduce the risks associated with drugs.

“Yes, there is a place for harm reduction,” Ganci said. “There is a place for harm reduction. But what's next? You know, I'm going to save your life today with a naloxone shot. That's great. But we need to do more.”

Anyone who has followed the discussions in San Francisco about the response to this emergency will find this struggle between reconstruction and damage control familiar.

“I keep saying: Harm reduction does not allow people to continue their addiction,” said Guy Felicella, a drug policy reform advocate. “It allows people to continue living.”

Felicella also battled addiction for years at Hastings Street. He said recovery requires survival and it often takes patience to be receptive to treatment.

“It's not based on corporations where we want to see immediate results,” he explained. “Those results will take time and you have to build those relationships with people. And that's why damage production is so important.”

The question of what form aid should take has been a contentious issue in both cities for years, despite different approaches.

“There are a lot of internal disputes,” Ganci said of the disputes. “And most of the time it's about money, about subsidies. Health Canada is obviously supporting more money for the cutback model.”

The same story is playing out in San Francisco, where the recovery community is pushing for a share of public funds, mainly for designated residential homes for addicts. So in both cities there is debate about where the money should go and how best to get people into treatment.

“Detoxification doesn't help anyone unless it's done when they need it,” Brocklesby said of what would be most helpful. “Right then and there. You can't tell someone to wait to detox because they might commit suicide the next day.”

And that's one point where even those who differ in their approaches find a common denominator: the idea that there needs to be many more options for help available on demand, whether that's recovery in a sober setting or something else.

“And expand them all to support people struggling with substance abuse, addiction, mental health issues, all of those issues,” Felicella said.

“I firmly believe that there should be many paths to recovery,” Ganci added, “and people should decide for themselves which path they want to take.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, call the national hotline at 1-800-662-4357. It's free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.