Hi Angie
I am really 'conflicted' about the why. Over my journey I have been an outsider and an insider. Started as a bereaved mother advocate in the community. Then moved through the continuum to over 15 years of systems advocacy to influence policy, planing and direction of resources/funding. Have also been the Director of Support House's Centre for Innovation in Peer Support for the last 6 years. And in June 2020, was appointed as the Chair of the Health Minister's Patient & Family Advisory Council. (I know that you know all this) LOL. But my point is that I have seen so many people, organizations and government(s) work so hard trying to get a handle on this situation. I have seen phenomenal leaders. REALLY good and fair people sincerely trying to do the best they can. So many people going above and beyond.
But it is still utter carnage.
I think the conundrum is the complexity. It is like this huge organism of destruction.
- It is Big Pharma.
- It is the potency of opioids.
- It is a poisoned drug supply.
- It is the inability of the system to meet the multiple needs that require both a social and medical response to mitigate so many inequities and gaps.
- It is the in-fighting and polarization of substance use/addiction philosophies (abstinence versus harm reduction).
- It is the imbalance in providing 'person centered/ person directed care' to meet people where they are at versus the tendency to criminalize
- It is the tendency to try to force a person into a treatment that does not fit and/or that they are not ready for yet due to trauma or other things.
- But most of all it is a huge ugly societal judgement and rejection of people who are using substances or caught in addiction.
And a whole other host of things.