With overdose deaths on the rise in Chatham-Kent, a local organization is hoping to educate residents about the prevalent dangers of substance use.
As part of this International Overdose Awareness Day on Thursday, Reach Out Chatham-Kent (R.O.C.K.) hosted a pair of events at the organization’s drop-in centres in Chatham and Wallaceburg to remember those lost to drug overdoses. The group also offered substance use education and naloxone training for those in attendance.
Lisa Medd, a co-lead with R.O.C.K., said International Overdose Awareness Day creates an opportunity to address the stigma surrounding those who have suffered a drug overdose.
“It is very common and can happen to anybody,” she said. “It’s not just everybody that’s an addict that is affected by this. People who use infrequently could very well overdose given the current drug supply.”
Medd added that naloxone is offered at both drop-in centres in Chatham and Wallaceburg as one of their harm-reduction supplies, as it can reverse an overdose and save lives.
“In a smaller place like Chatham-Kent, you wouldn’t think the drug supply would be so compromised by other illicit items [but] overdoses happen very easily and very, very quickly,” she said.
According to R.O.C.K. officials, there have been more than 28 overdose deaths in Chatham-Kent in the first seven months of this year. There were 28 total deaths attributed to overdoses in all of 2023.
“Certainly the magnitude of the problem, I don’t think, is understood in the broad community very well,” said Medd. “We’re trying our best to bring some awareness to that.”
For those needing assistance, R.O.C.K. drop-in centres are located at 39 Richmond St. in Chatham and 233 Nelson St. in Wallaceburg.