The opioid crisis in Algoma and across northern Ontario was put under the microscope in a new report from Algoma Public Health.
Put together over the past few years, the Toxic Drugs in Algoma report takes a close look at substance abuse across the region and potential actions moving forward – informed by dozens of interviews with the region’s service providers and people with lived experience.
“This was a community assessment,” said community wellness manager, Hilary Gordon, who helped present the report to the APH board on Wednesday night.
“We worked with our partners to exchange knowledge and rely on our shared data to have a greater impact on population health, and we're also working as close as we can with priority populations to develop a shared holistic understanding of our community health needs.”
Between 2018 and 2023, opioid-related deaths per 100,000 people tracked far higher than the provincial average in the Algoma Region, with northern Ontario’s death rate spiking 97 per cent between 2019 and 2021 compared with Ontario’s overall spike of 70 per cent.
In Sault Ste. Marie, the city continues to be among the top 10 census divisions in Ontario for opioid toxicity mortality rates since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In order to understand the experiences behind the statistics, APH carried out 28 interviews with people with lived substance abuse experience as part of the report, as well as 12 family members and friends.
“We really wanted to get a better view and understand the local situation more through the voices of people with lived and living experience and service providers,” Gordon said.
Among the interviewed group, the average age of beginning substance use was 14 years old, and a wide variety of reasons contributed to that – from adverse childhood experiences, grief and loss, peer pressure, coping with mental health issues, and more.
The interviews also identified a number of barriers people might face when looking to access help, like a lack of housing or judgment and stigma, while also identifying what has been helpful: peer support, counselling, opioid agonist therapy, and more.
APH also carried out 19 interviews with community partners, from backgrounds such as harm reduction, mental health, and legal and justice services, which identified a number of barriers to help and ways to overcome those obstacles.
Where issues like system navigation or intake processes stand in the way, service providers suggested client outreach, as well as person-centred and culturally appropriate approaches as methods to overcome those barriers.
In identifying solutions, the report also considered different types of intervention that could help, from downstream actions like harm reduction supplies and other front-line services, to upstream actions like decriminalizing the possession of drugs.
At the public health unit level, there might be more room for actions somewhere in the middle,
“Given the climate and the challenges that we do face in harm reduction, where we may be most likely to make impact is in this midstream,” Gordon said.
“It could be actioning through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada … (and) addressing culturally safe and trauma informed practices and spaces in our agencies and our communities.”
Looking forward, the report identified four priority areas to take action.
It recommends addressing stigma and equity in accessing help, by supporting the development of a people with lived experience network to help inform community action, as well as by addressing stigma in local organizations through assessment and training.
The report also recommends strengthening information sharing by building stronger relationships with academic institutions, creating a drug strategy committee, and more, and also recommends creating tailored interventions for groups experiencing higher rates of harm.
Finally, the report recommends boosting partnerships between organizations to integrate and increase access to services, and to foster opportunities for service providers to learn together.
The full Toxic Drugs in Algoma report can be found here.