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FEATURE
A single mom juggling the demands of parenting with a full-time job, you’d never guess Lisa (not her real name) is a recovering heroin addict. Born and raised in Revelstoke, she began using cocaine and crystal meth while still in high school. She didn’t even try heroin until she was well into her 30s. “Drugs have been around [Revelstoke] for a long time. I think a lot of people started getting into them in high school, and I know that’s still true to this day,” said Lisa. “When I was in high school, drugs were really big.” Lisa says she wasn’t even aware heroin was in Revelstoke until someone she knew had some, and offered to let her try. Three weeks after using heroin for the first time, Lisa says she was hooked. At first, she was able to maintain her regular life — picking her kids up from school, attending
parent teacher association meetings and showing up for work. All while using heroin. All day. Every day. “Nobody knew. It’s not what people think. It’s not that junkie sitting on [East] Hastings. It’s soccer moms. It’s every day people, and they’re completely functioning addicts. I couldn’t even have a shower until I had my shot, but once I had it, BOOM!, I’m on top of the world. I could do anything.” Lisa says a point of heroin costs $20. At the height of her addiction she was spending a minimum of $100 a day on heroin. “It got to the point where I needed way more than (a point) to do in one shot. It gets pricey fast. I know a lot of friends that turned to prostitution. I know people who have committed robbery here to get their drugs.”
A LOOK INSIDE REVELSTOKE’S OPIOID EPIDEMIC A RECENT BC CORONERS SERVICE REPORT LISTED REVELSTOKE AMONG LOCAL HEALTH AREAS WITH THE HIGHEST RATES OF DRUG OVERDOSE DEATHS. WE SPOKE WITH STAKEHOLDERS TO FIND OUT WHAT’S BEING DONE TO COMBAT A DRUG PROBLEM THAT REMAINS LARGELY UNSEEN BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC. By Melissa Jameson.
Revelstoke Emergency Health Services, RCMP see rise in drug-related calls, investigations In the first six months of 2020, BC Emergency Health Services paramedics in Revelstoke responded to a total of 10 overdose calls. By comparison, BCEHS paramedics responded to 10 overdose calls in Revelstoke for all of 2016; 17 calls in all of 2017; 18 calls in all of 2018; and 16 calls for all of 2019. According to BCEHS communications officer Shannon Miller, when BCEHS paramedics respond to a potential overdose patient, that patient has a 99 per cent chance of survival. “While tracking this BCEHS overdose data can be useful to identify trends, it’s important to consider that it may not capture all opioid overdoses and also includes alcohol intoxication and poisoning ingestions,” said Miller. For context, said Miller, there were a total of 24,166
potential overdose or poisoning events in all of B.C. in 2019. This means BCEHS paramedics are responding to an average of 66 potential overdose/poisoning calls per day in the province. Vancouver, the largest centre for overdoses, averages about 23 overdose calls a day to BCEHS paramedics. Similarly, the Revelstoke RCMP has also seen an increase in statistics, in this case for illicit drug related offence investigations and impaired driving offence investigations. The RCMP provided first-quarter statistics for 2018, 2019 and 2020. According to those statistics, Revelstoke RCMP conducted 10 impaired driving investigations in the first quarter of 2018, 11 in 2019 and 45 in 2020. There were 18 drug-related investigations during the first quarter of 2018, six in 2019 and 18 during the first quarter of 2020. The statistics don’t necessarily provide the whole picture, said Revelstoke RCMP Sgt. Chris Dodds, because police can only report on actual investigations that have corresponding file numbers. Dodds told the Mountaineer there are a number of ways investigations can be initiated including through calls for service, Crime Stoppers tips, spin-off investigations from other calls for service and selfgenerated investigations by RCMP officers.
