Inside a Fredericton opioid program, where dozens of people 'are getting their lives back'

Stephen Menard found himself struggling while trying to get medical care for his chronic pain.

But 18 months ago, he says he found himself a "godsend."

River Stone Recovery Centre in downtown Fredericton opened in July 2020 and started an injectable opioid agonist treatment program in October of that year. 

The program allows participants with treatment-resistant opioid-use disorder to get an individualized liquid hydromorphone prescription that can be taken up to three times each day by self-injection in the clinic.

"I don't have to wake up and figure out where I'm going to get my medication for the morning, afternoon, the whole day," said Menard.

"That stability of every day. That's one humongous stress that's off my shoulders."

Menard said his opioid use began because of multiple motor vehicle accidents that resulted in leg, hip, back and neck pain. But because of barriers to getting properly medicated, Menard said he turned to the street for drugs, not knowing if they were coming from a trustworthy source.

The injectable treatment program has 62 participants, with more than 300 people in total seeking services such as oral medication and therapy at the clinic.

Dr. Sara Davidson, a family doctor and the medical director of the clinic, said according to a recent survey conducted with participants, 90 per cent of those in treatment for more than six months had positive changes in their lives because of the program, including mental and physical health improvements and reduced conflict.

She said there has also been a 100 per cent decrease in sex work for the participants.

"These results offer all of us a glimmer of hope that treatment is the best way to reduce drug-related crime. A large majority of participants are remaining in the program, and most have remained out of the criminal justice system," said Davidson.

"But even better, slowly but surely, they are getting their lives back."

Christine Cross, the program director at River Stone who created the survey, said after 18 months in the program, only 17 per cent of participants were using opioids outside of the injection program. She said of that number, many were only using outside the program when they were sick or unable to make it into the clinic for their dose.

Cross said there have been good outcomes for those in the program getting into housing.