Aaron was a runner, he worked out, was a good cook, meditated and practiced yoga,” Troylana Manson explained, but, “at 20 he was using illicit, toxic drugs.”
Aaron had worked in man camps up north on and off, and that’s were he was introduced to drugs and alcohol. When the work ended, he returned home and went back to school. Then he moved out.
“He disappeared for a few days. I was getting concerned,” Manson explained. She finally made contacted with his girlfriend who got through to him, and he sent her a message that he was fine. After this Manson realized that she had to help herself. “I was still teaching. My mind was somewhere else,” she pointed out. So, she used the computer and searched for: “Mom struggling with son’s substance abuse.”
“Leslie McBain e-mailed me with where to get help. I wrote Sandra Tully back here in Kamloops. We met for coffee and I started with Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH).”
MSTH gave Manson the opportunity to choose a ‘compassionate way’ of handling relations with Aaron; to ‘connect’ with him. She could choose to interact with him 10 percent of the time over drug use, or the 90 percent when he wasn’t using drugs. She had the feeling she could lose him, so she chose to enjoy the 90 percent part of his life.
Aaron had been with friends and was offered a baggie of kratom which was supposed to help a person feel better. It was a natural product, but he didn’t know much about how to use it. He put 50 grams into a glass of water and went to bed. You were supposed to use only one to three grams. He was supposed to speak to a group that afternoon, but he wasn’t up yet and Manson went to check on him and could not wake him. Although paramedics performed CPR, Manson knew Aaron was gone.
Toxins in the drugs used are still a problem, Manson stated. Someone could use a drug for the first time to experiment and die due to a toxin mixed in the drug. Some common signs of drug use include changes in hygiene habits, weight gain or loss, secretive behaviour, and mood swings. Breath and clothes may also smell.
Treatment centres are not regulated, Manson pointed out. There are only so many beds. Finding the right program and support is like peeling an onion. It is not a-one-and-done, but more like planting seeds, she revealed.
Manson is an advocate for MSTH and believes that harm reduction needs more attention in the drug crises.
Harm reduction refers to reducing health, social, and economic consequences due to use of legal and illegal psychoactive drugs and meeting people with out judgement. MSTH is a system where families who have experienced the harm or death of drug use find support. MSTH policies are geared to prevention, treatment and prevention policy changes aimed at ending the stigma attached to drug use.
Lorna Thomas and Petra Schulz (Edmonton, Alberta) and Leslie McDain (Ponder Island, British Columbia) came together in 2015 and formed a working relationship. After attending the United Nations General Assembly Special Session regarding policy MSTH was formed in 2016.
Historically drugs were seen as a menace to society and laws were the answer to address the problem for years. Drugs in Canada progressed from being unregulated in the 1800s, where products such as aspirin and coca used for medicinal purposes were legal, until prohibition in the 1900s. Laws meant to prohibit the making, sale, and import of opium for non-medical use, cocaine, and morphine were added in 1911, and by 1923 Canada included cannabis.
By 2022 adults 18 years and older were not charged for possession of up to 2.5 g, cumulative, of MDMA, cocaine, methamphetamine, or opioids.
Recently the shift has been towards a harm reduction-based approach with laws to fight trafficking.