Alberta harm reduction advocate, drug user challenges government focus on abstinence
CBC
It was in a hospital that a Calgary woman says she recalls feeling happy for the very first time as an opioid raced through her body.
"When they gave me that IV of hydromorphone, all of the horrible things that I was feeling just went quiet," says Ophelia Cara, 21.
"I felt like I could breathe again for the first time in a long time and, in some sense, for the first time ever."
Being introduced to hydromorphone, sold under the brand name Dilaudid, would change everything for her.
While stories of opioid use are often tragic — with thousands of attributable deaths in Canada in recent years — Cara says using them has saved her life.
Cara doesn't go by her given name for fear it could threaten her prescription, as tensions rise in Alberta about how to respond to the overdose crisis.
As the provincial government focuses on a recovery-based approach, while cutting harm reduction services, Cara has become a well-known advocate in Calgary for services that support people who use drugs.
Not only is she fighting to save the city's drug-use site from closing, but she's highlighting that abstinence doesn't work for everyone.
"I tried everything I could to stay sober. None of it worked," says Cara. "I am still very much an addict but I'm also more recovered and more mentally healthy now than I've ever been."
Sipping tea on a couch in her home in southwest Calgary, Cara details a lonely childhood where she often chose the comfort of a school book instead of making friends.
From an early age, she faced significant mental health issues like depression that continued into adulthood. Cara says her life hit an all-time low during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her job in a nightclub was put on hold and her relationship with a man she loved was rocky. An unrelated sexual assault landed her in the hospital in the summer of 2020, and that's when she received the hydromorphone drip.
After that visit, she turned to street drugs — cocaine and fentanyl. She suffered numerous overdoses, one of which resulted in a massive seizure that Cara says left her unconscious for an hour.
Her dad tried to force her into sobriety, taking her to a small town in Mexico.It didn't work. She overdosed almost immediately after returning to Canada.
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WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.