People First Radio – April 18, 2024People First Radio – April 18, 2024
People First Radio
Leslie McBain reflects on eight years of British Columbia's toxic drug public health emergency and the rise of Moms Stop The Harm, while Gillian Cola discusses research on the emotional strain faced by harm reduction workers. Together, they highlight ongoing grief, political resistance, and the need for safer supply and proper support for frontline staff.
0:00•19 Apr 2024
Eight Years On: Grief, Toxic Drugs and the People Still Fighting
Episode Overview
- Toxic drug deaths in British Columbia have continued to rise despite eight years under a declared public health emergency.
- Moms Stop The Harm advocates for a regulated drug supply and challenges stigma that paints people who use drugs as "those people."
- Political resistance and misinformation about harm reduction and decriminalisation are seen as major barriers to saving lives.
- Harm reduction workers report severe emotional strain from constant overdose response, often without adequate benefits, leave, or specialised support.
- Standard employee assistance programmes may lack understanding of overdose work, leaving frontline staff feeling unheard and further burdened.
“If there were an emergency, we would see it by now.”
How do people find hope in the darkest times? This episode of People First Radio centres on two very different but closely linked perspectives from the drug toxicity crisis in Canada. First, co-founder of Moms Stop The Harm, Leslie McBain, marks eight years since British Columbia declared a public health emergency. She speaks as a mother whose son Jordan died of a pharmaceutical overdose and as an advocate who’s watched deaths climb from hundreds to thousands each year.
Leslie stresses that “the deaths are piling up and they are people,” pushing against the way statistics and media images turn human beings into faceless stereotypes. She talks about political pushback against harm reduction and regulated supply, describing how promises from governments often stall out: “This has never felt like an emergency,” she says, contrasting the sluggish response to toxic drugs with the rapid action taken for Covid.
Later, public health researcher and former frontline worker Gillian Cola shares findings from a Toronto-based study on harm reduction workers. She explains how responding to constant overdoses is “emotionally devastating,” especially when many workers lack basic benefits, sick time, or grief leave. Some who turned to employee assistance programmes ended up educating the counsellors about harm reduction instead of getting help themselves.
One participant summed up the frustration: “The slowness of everything makes me feel extremely mad.” Together, their conversations highlight grief, anger and fatigue, but also a stubborn determination to keep people alive and to push for evidence-based solutions like safer supply, better housing, and proper support for workers. If you’ve ever wondered what this crisis feels like from the inside, this episode offers a grounded, human look at both families and frontline staff.
It might leave you asking: what would it take for this to finally be treated like the emergency it is?
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