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Troster: Remember, people who use drugs are also our neighbours

8 34
22.02.2024

One reason drug use is so visible in downtown Ottawa is because so many live in rooming houses or spend the night in shelters. They live their lives — and their struggles — very much in the public eye.

This article is written as a follow-up to “Drug use is making Centretown less and less safe,” Feb. 21.

There is a reason I always carry Naloxone. It’s because two years ago, I didn’t, and as I walked my daughter home from school in Centretown, we encountered a man keeled over on the sidewalk, stiff as a board. I called 911 and checked his vitals, while simultaneously trying to reassure my then-nine-year-old daughter and her friends.

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Within seconds, a police officer arrived, whipped out a vial of Naloxone and administered it to the fallen man via nose spray. The man immediately jumped to life, suddenly conscious. I have no idea what happened to him after that day, but in that moment, I was relieved to see that he was alive.

Finding an unconscious person was unusual during my walks to and from school with my daughter, but I was getting used to finding more and more needles. This was at the height of the pandemic, when there were no indoor spaces for street-involved folks to........

© Ottawa Citizen


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