More treatment is a welcome change

BY PIETA WOOLLEY

In the short term, Rob Fitzpatrick says, a safe supply will solve the chronic offender crisis. In the long term, he believes, only treatment will end the cycle.

“If people are not craving drugs,” Rob, who is the director of operations at Miklat Recovery House said, “they won’t go out and commit crimes, and can stabilize and start to think about lives, work, and seek recovery.”

If you haven’t been addicted to opioids, Rob explained, you can’t understand how intense those cravings are. People are “committing crimes out of necessity,” he said, “because more drugs is the only thing that will stop the craving. Ten or 15 years ago, the drugs weren’t so strong. People weren’t as desperate. That’s why you see more crime now: it’s the strength of the drugs, of the cravings.”

Those who come down from regular opioid use feel very sick for a week, Rob said. At the climax, “it’s like the worst flu you’ve ever had. And then cravings for months after. Severe. Terrible. It’s absolutely the worst feeling in the world. Your whole body tickles. Vomiting, severe temperature.”

Currently, the non-profit Miklat House, located in Cranberry, and secondary treatment in Townsite, is the only program in town available to serve most locals (the Sunshine Coast Health Centre is much more expensive).

IN THE FIRST PERSON: At a sold-out 200-seat fundraising gala for Miklat Recovery Society December 17 at Evangel Pentecostal Church, Rob Fitzpatrick told his own story – and credited both harm reduction and treatment for his survival, and recovery. Several men spoke at the dinner, telling the crowd what recovery has meant to their lives, and the lives of the people who love them.

For people on social assistance, the Province pays about $34 a day for their treatment at Miklat – about half what it costs to deliver the service, Rob notes. The rest is made up in fees charged to other clients, and fundraising.

Rob is thrilled that the new premier, David Eby, has promised to put much more funding into treatment alongside harm reduction services. About 80% of BC’s population can’t afford treatment, and wait lists can be months long. Miklat has a five month long waiting list now. His hope is that Miklat will start to receive more funds soon, and the program can expand from 12 beds to 24, or more.

Alberta has been funding a recovery-first system since 2019. While the full scope of programs is still being rolled out, the number of toxic drug deaths in that province is declining.

“Their model is more effective,” Rob said. “I appreciate the harm reduction side, but we need to spend more on treatment. Seeing Alberta’s numbers going down seems to me like they’re doing something right.”

Rob Fitzpatrick’s five other solutions:

1. Streamline the process of getting people into treatment with universal application forms. This should include a central database for submitting and approving applications, and to show empty bed counts.

2. Address stigma in the healthcare field among doctors and nurses.

3. Harm reduction services throughout BC should have dedicated case workers who refer clients to treatment. There is a gap between harm reduction and recovery. You don’t see any resources about treatment at most safe use sites.

4. Treatment services inside of provincial jails and pre-trial jails should be robust and offered to every inmate. Most inmates are addicted and the only reason the majority are there is due to addiction and mental health.

5. Detox and aftercare: medical detox beds should be included in every community hospital, with appropriately trained staff. Aftercare funding from the province for treatment centres (Miklat currently covers the cost for alumni meetings, weekly phone calls, programming and counselling.)

|| pieta@prliving.ca