A local mother is sharing her heartbreak with the community in the hopes of helping others.
Tina Tedford is working with the Drug Awareness Council to talk openly about addiction. Her son Devon passed away six years ago from a drug overdose at the age of 21. She says he suffered from depression and was self-medicating with fentanyl.
“I want to do what he wanted to start on his own. H wanted to put the word out and tell his experience and make people aware and try to help them prevent themselves from being in this situation,” Tedford says. “What I want to do is just help raise awareness and let people know they’re not alone and there is help out there.”
Tedford says there’s a lot of guilt and frustration that go with loving an addict, but all you can do is support them as best you can and encourage them to get the help they need
August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day, and Drug Awareness Council spokesperson Marjorie Crew says it’s a growing problem in Chatham-Kent.
“When someone says no, they don’t want help, unless they are of harm to others, you can’t apprehend people, that’s that misconception about drugs in our community,” Crew says. “We see issues of homelessness and all of those other things on our streets, and we deal with it from a community level, from a citizen level, to council’s working on it as well right now.”
Crew says as far as community safety and well-being, addiction is one of the biggest issues the community faces.
For more information on addiction and the local resources available, visit www.ckdac.ca.
