For first-year University of Saskatchewan med student Ryan Krochak, Saskatchewan’s overdose and drug use crisis has been hitting close to home.
“I was raised just north of Yorkton, so right now I can speak to the HIV epidemic within the Kamsack region, and in the past five years the HIV rate has gone up over 700 per cent,” Krochak told reporters in Regina Wednesday.
People who use drugs comprise about 20 per cent of those in Canada infected with HIV and about 30 per cent of new infections, according to the Canadian AIDS Society.
“It’s such a surreal moment watching an attending physician break the news that a patient is now diagnosed with HIV. That’s a chronic infection. That’s a lifelong infection, and it’s preventable.”
Krochak was joined Wednesday in the legislative building by several fellow students and members of Students for Harm Reduction and Informed Policy, for which he is the incoming president.
Together, pointing out that 2021 again brought a record number of overdose deaths to Saskatchewan, the group called on the provincial government to directly fund safe consumption sites as well as increase access to needle exchange programs.
“It’s well documented that we’re in an overdose epidemic. Now more than ever there is a contaminated illicit supply of drugs,” Krochak said.
“Right now people are dying in Saskatchewan and we need to address it. The time is now to publicly fund safe consumption sites.”
The safe consumption sites in both Regina and Saskatoon are currently privately operated and funded.
While the province has taken steps to make available take-home naloxone kits and drug testing strips, and are in the process of purchasing four spectrometer testing machines, requests for safe consumption site funding have so far been denied.
Speaking Wednesday, Mental Health and Addictions Minister Everett Hindley said his ministry is reviewing another funding proposal from Prairie Harm Reduction and that are “looking at all of the options on the table right now.”
“We have a budget coming up in a couple of weeks’ time. We’ve made some significant investments in past years both new initiatives and we’ve also annualized some initiatives when it comes to harm reduction across this province,” Hindley said.
“That remains our goal. We’re trying to make sure that as part of our overall addictions and mental health strategy that we’re providing treatment options but also providing harm reduction services for people across this province regardless of where they live.”
But NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat said the province is “dragging its feet” and has been “paying lip service to harm reduction for years now.”
“The proof is in the pudding,” Mowat said.
“The last minister of health also said he supported harm reduction initiatives but we haven’t seen the dollars follow those words.”
Recounting how she had recently witnessed a Prairie Harm Reduction staff member revive an overdose victim before the consumption site was actually open for the day, Mowat called the number of overdose death trend “heartbreaking” and that the recent increase in mental health and addictions funding “was needed ten years ago.”
“We’ve heard from the harm reduction CBOs themselves that the government isn’t doing enough. Expanding hours and having trained people on site is what’s really going to make a difference for them and we haven’t seen that funding from government,” she said.
“We’re talking about saving people’s lives. That’s the first step towards getting people the help that they need
Saskatchewan’s coming budget is due to be tabled March 23.