August 2024
The debate over safe supply/consumption sites is one that I find really, really frustrating. One side says that if we close safe consumption sites, more people will die, while the other side says that if we don’t close safe supply/consumption sites, more people will die. Who’s telling the truth? Well, it depends on what statistics you want to quote and whether you believe safe consumption sites are saving lives because there are staff on hand to revive someone who overdoses, or whether you believe they are just delaying the addict’s inevitable death until they overdose, alone, in a coffee shop bathroom.
As a recovering alcoholic, I can speak with some authority on this subject. One of the things that prevented me from dying was money. While I live comfortably, I don’t have a huge bank account. I don’t have the kind of bank account that would have enabled me to buy more and better quality alcohol, without sacrificing some of the essentials. I simply don’t have the money, for example, to pay $2000 dollars for a $12 bottle of ketamine, let alone one that actually costs $2000, like the late Matthew Perry did, God rest his soul. While I did start off drinking better alcoholic beverages, my frugal nature too over and I started buying one of the discount beer brands, rather than the top-shelf Canadian whiskey that I prefer. I wanted to make sure that I had the money to keep a roof over my head and pay for food and necessities for me and my daughter.
I think we can all do the math here. By drinking hard liquor, instead of beer, I could have consumed more alcohol by volume before passing out or dying of alcohol poisoning. Like a lot of addicts/alcoholics, I was simply trying to numb the emotional trauma in my head, not kill myself.
My point is what ultimately got me into recovery and saved my life was not being provided with more and better quality alcohol to consume, nor by making sure someone was around so that I didn’t choke to death on my own vomit or fall down a set of stairs. There were several factors, but just two of the reasons I was ready to get sober were a lack of a large bank account and being a regular listener to the now-defunct radio show People Helping People, hosted by the late Nils Johanson, a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who was better known by his profession name of Mark Elliot. I only met Nils in person once, but I was a regular listener to his show on Saturday night. He was the next best thing to entering a treatment program, which I probably should have done too, but that’s another story for another day. I did attend regular OHIP paid out-patient counseling and free community support groups like A.A. and Wings of Change, and peer-led, confidential, peer support group for operational stress injuries, so at least I did that much. I should point out that my employer at the time, West Grey Police (West GreyPolice | Community Partners), didn’t have an Employee Assistance Program for me to access, nor was my police association of any assistance, so there’s that issue.
I owe my sobriety and probably my life to Nils, who gave me the determination to get and stay sober. In addition to my alcohol consumption, I was also abusing my prescription medication. I found that the sleeping pills I had been taking were no longer having the desired effect, so I started taking more than the prescribed dosage. When that eventually proved ineffective too, I found that washing them down with increasing amounts of alcohol helped increase their effectiveness. That had some potentially dangerous outcomes for me. Just so everyone knows, when it says on the bottle “Do not consume alcohol with this medication,” it’s not a suggestion. (Thanks to Tom M. for giving me that line. I use it all the time.)
My sobriety date is 4 March 2016. I haven’t touched a single drop of alcohol since and I take my prescription medication as prescribed. I even managed to reduce the number of pills that I have to take on a daily basis, some likely for the rest of my life.
Bottom line, no addict or alcoholic will get clean until they are ready to, regardless of how many times you tell them to stop, or how much you belittle and ridicule them. I’m also not saying that supervised consumption sites are completely ineffective. What I am saying is that without a better effort at providing counselling and reasonable options to get clean, simply giving addicts “clean” drugs and needles, or simply providing a better place to inject than in an alley or coffee shop bathroom, is only delaying their inevitable death; only extending their slow-motion suicide.
Is it too much to ask for some honesty in this debate? Lives are at risk here.
Bruce Forsyth is a retired police officer, PTSD survivor and runs www.militarybruce.com.
Also read: People Helping People – The legacy of Nils Johanson – Canadian Military History (militarybruce.com).
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Edited version that appeared in the Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun, 28 August 2024:
FORSYTH: Can we have some honesty with safe supply/consumption sites?
Published Aug 28, 2024 • 3 minute read
The debate over safe supply/consumption sites is really frustrating.
One side says that if we close safe supply/consumption sites, more people will die, while the other side says that if we don’t close them, more people will die.
Who’s telling the truth? Well, it depends on what statistics you quote and whether you believe safe consumption sites are saving lives because there are staff on hand to revive someone who overdoses, or whether you believe they are just delaying the addict’s inevitable death, alone, in a coffee shop bathroom.
As a recovering alcoholic, I can speak with some authority on this subject.
One of the things that prevented me from dying was money. While I live comfortably, I don’t have a huge bank account. I don’t have the kind of bank account that would have enabled me to buy more and better quality alcohol, without sacrificing some of the essentials.
My frugal nature too over and I started buying one of the discount beer brands. I wanted to make sure that I had the money to pay for food and necessities for me and my daughter.
By drinking hard liquor, instead of beer, I could have consumed more alcohol by volume before passing out or dying of alcohol poisoning. I was simply trying to numb the emotional trauma in my head, not kill myself.
My point is what ultimately got me into recovery and saved my life was not being provided with more and better quality alcohol to consume, nor by making sure someone was around so that I didn’t choke to death on my own vomit.
There were several factors, but just two of the reasons I was ready to get sober were a lack of a large bank account and being a regular listener to the now-defunct radio show People Helping People, hosted by the late Nils Johanson, a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who was better known by his profession name of Mark Elliot.
I only met Nils in person once, but I was a regular listener to his show on Saturday night. He was the next best thing to entering a treatment program, which I probably should have done too. I did attend regular OHIP paid out-patient counseling and free community support groups like A.A. and Wings of Change, and peer-led, confidential, peer support group for operational stress injuries, so at least I did that much.
My employer at the time didn’t have an Employee Assistance Program for me to access, nor was my association (union) of any assistance.
I owe my sobriety and probably my life to Nils, who gave me the determination to get and stay sober. In addition to alcohol, I was also abusing my prescription medication. I found that the sleeping pills I had been taking were no longer having the desired effect, so I started taking more than the prescribed dosage.
When that eventually proved ineffective too, I found that washing them down with increasing amounts of alcohol helped increase their effectiveness. When it says on the bottle “Do not consume alcohol with this medication,” it’s not a suggestion. (Thanks to Tom M. for giving me that line. I use it all the time.)
My sobriety date is 4 March 2016 and I properly take my prescription medication, some likely for the rest of my life.
Bottom line, no one will get clean until they are ready to, regardless of how many times you tell them to stop, or how much you belittle and ridicule them.
Supervised consumption sites can be effective, but without a better effort at providing counselling and options to get clean, simply giving addicts “clean” drugs and needles, or providing a better place to consume, is only extending their slow-motion suicide.
Bruce Forsyth is a retired police officer, PTSD survivor and runs www.militarybruce.com.
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