Feds can no longer ignore devastation from substance use in the North

Make denial work for you. This could be the mantra of the Yukon government when it comes to alcohol and drug use in the territory. The same can be said for Canada as the federal government ignores the devastation from substance use across the North. The shortage of substance use data in the North “is a national embarrassment,” said David Hammond, PhD and research chair at Waterloo University in an interview with the Yukon News. While versions of Health Canada’s surveys on alcohol, tobacco, and drugs run every two years across the provinces, they almost always exclude the North. In Yukon, only twice—in 1990 and 2005—has an Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CADS) been conducted. And the lack of data is working both ways: since 2017 the Yukon is the only jurisdiction in Canada that doesn’t report numbers and causes of death to Statistics Canada. This means there is no national data for jurisdictional comparisons to build understanding about the patterns of consumption and their consequences across the country. Northern-specific data is necessary to ensure the federal government is not swayed by popular southern theories. In the North, approaches must be tailored for fit best in each location. Yukon had the opportunity for officials to watch and learn as the neighbouring jurisdictions of Alberta and British Columbia differentiated themselves with dramatically different approaches to addiction and its consequences. Alberta’s approach of recovery first and B.C.’s experience with reduce the harm, could have awakened and informed policymakers and politicians in the Yukon to lead with a balanced approach. Lawrie Crawford is writing a book about Yukon’s storied history with alcohol, titled Yukon Booze Guzzlers. Photograph courtesy of Lawrie Crawford Instead, its’ Substance Use Health Emergency Strategy released on Aug. 23 is far from balanced. The document minimizes the key issues that are driving the crisis in the territory, specifically excessive alcohol consumption in a concentrated portion of the population, and an exorbitantly high number of drug poisoning fatalities, disproportionally affecting women and First Nations people. The Yukon Liberal strategy document gives short shift to the territory’s high levels of consumption; ignores the epicentre of drinking, drugging, and deaths at a government-funded shelter in downtown Whitehorse; and fails to truly address the levels of despair at play in rural Yukon communities as the capital city’s dominance in economic and social affairs mushrooms. The document’s clear main objective, in spite of being a substance use health emergency strategy, is “to reduce substance use-related harm within the territory.” By failing to recognize the need to reduce the consumption of alcohol and other drugs, the strategy plays into the hands of the liquor industry, pharmaceutical drug producers, drug dealers, and the Yukon Liquor Corporation. High consumption levels make for lucrative businesses, both legitimate and otherwise. The new strategy ignores alcohol consumption in favour of medication subsidies and harm-reduction initiatives. It does, however, recognize the need to shelter people in a sober, drug-free environment. For five years now, one emergency shelter in Whitehorse has accommodated the unhoused of the territory. This shelter, known locally as 405 Alexander, is labelled in the document’s current treatment system diagram as the “abusive situation or housing where people are using substances.” A recent evaluation found that 38 per cent of shelter guests reported that their substance use increased as a result of accessing the shelter. This, in spite of a multi-million-dollar funding agreement that states that there will be no alcohol and drug use on the premises and that the current operator, a non-government organization (NGO) from B.C., Connective, is not licensed as a safe-consumption site. Neither is the shelter safe—nearby business owners are angry, the mayor of Whitehorse has demanded changes, and the government’s 24-hour on-site paramedic services seem unable to quell the number of people who are dying in and around the vicinity of the shelter building. A coroner’s inquest has been called, but a date has not been set. The drop-in shelter acts as a magnet for people from the communities to connect with friends and family members. It acts a nexus of contagion for drinking and drug-taking behaviours, especially since the number of bars has diminished throughout the territory, and places to “hang out” are limited—there few if any, social space alternatives. Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal arrives for a cabinet meeting in West Block on March 28, 2023. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade Rural Yukon, once stable, now only holds 20 per cent of the territory’s 44,000 residents. Urban migration has left the small outlying communities struggling for resources, services, and housing. Let alone lacking a critical mass of skilled and caring people willing to make their homes in small communities struggling to keep health centres open, schools, and daycares staffed, while RCMP officers are unable to make arrests of active and known drug dealers, or sexual predators. The statistics are disheartening as Queen’s University continues its study of Yukon health behaviours, which allows for comparisons between rural and urban 11- to 15-year-olds. Shockingly in 2018, 83 per cent of girls in rural Yukon reported feeling sad or hopeless every day, and 41 per cent reported sexual intercourse before the age of 13. The links between alcohol, drugs, and sex are self-evident and disturbing. The broad stroke initiatives targeting youth in the strategy will miss the mark. “If you want to actually address youth drinking you got to address adult drinking first,” says Dr. Timothy Naimi, director of the University of Victoria’s Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research and professor at UVic’s School of Public Health and Social Policy. He said anything else is “wishful thinking by adults who don’t want to do anything about their own alcohol consumption.” Hammond also called the out the fallacy of reducing harm without reducing consumption. “How can we not just reduce people dying from opioid use, but how we can reduce opioid use overall so that people aren’t subjected to the risks?” he asked. Even advocates of harm reduction say addressing excessive drinking is a key part of dealing with the overdose crisis. People are more likely to consume an unfamiliar drug if they’re drinking, than if they are not. Inebriation increases risk and the likelihood of trying other substances if available. And the risks compound if young women are present. The Yukon and Canadian governments need to back up along the causative chain. Politicians need to stop putting their head in the sand about the role of alcohol and its deadly harm. The strategy needs to target problematic people and situations. Politicians need to stop listening to vested interests, both funded NGOs and businesses. In the Yukon, territorial politicians need to spend a night or two in the Whitehorse shelter, boost the capacity in the coroner’s office, and have heartfelt conversations in Yukon communities. Canada needs to fund research, and both governments need to share and publish meaningful data to inform conversations and decisions to make targeted and co-ordinated efforts effective. Lawrie Crawford is writing a book about Yukon’s storied history with alcohol, titled Yukon Booze Guzzlers. She is author of several reports as an alcohol and drug specialist in the territory and has written extensively about substance use issues in her recent role as a local journalism initiative reporter for the Yukon News. She lives in Carcross, Yukon. The Hill Times

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Feds can no longer ignore devastation from substance use in the North

Northern-specific data is necessary to ensure the federal government is not swayed by popular southern theories.

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