An awareness walk will be held Thursday at 6:30 p.m. starting at the Lake Country Co-op Food Store. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

smudge walk

International Overdose Awareness Day observed in La Ronge

Aug 31, 2023 | 5:00 PM

Overdose and addiction touch the lives of many people, but others still don’t understand the issue and there are not enough resources to help.

Those are the words of Leanne Anderson, who was the tribute speaker for an International Overdose Awareness Day event held in La Ronge on Thursday. She was invited to speak about her late son, Sanchaz, and her own journey when he died of an opioid overdose in 2017 due to methadone.

“I was here to share my story about how he died, how I grieved and how I healed,” Anderson said.

“I found when I share my story, it also helps me feel better and deal with the loss of losing my son, and it can also help other people if they loss somebody to an overdose. It creates understanding and awareness about overdose itself. I think it is important to share the information and to share my story because it is healing for people and healing for myself. It creates hope and it’s better when we’re together.”

According to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service (SCS), there have been 92 confirmed drug toxicity deaths in the province so far this year with another 199 suspected deaths. Almost 90 per cent of confirmed deaths were related to fentanyl.

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Statistics released from the SCS state that from Jan. 1 to Aug. 1, 48 of the confirmed drug toxicity deaths were due to fentanyl, and 32 were due to acetyl fentanyl. Fentanyl-related drugs have been the most common contributing opioid in confirmed drug toxicity deaths since 2020.

Anderson believes society needs to work towards an understanding of what addiction is, how people become addicted, why people are addicted, why it is so hard for people to recover, as well as how it affects other people like family members and loved ones.

“I think we are getting there. I think people do have an idea and awareness of the fact we are losing so many people, but how and what we need to do, I don’t think people understand that,” she said.

The International Overdose Awareness Day event in La Ronge also included an overdose awareness booth and a naloxone workshop. Naloxone is a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, allowing time for medical help to arrive.

All members of the public are also invited to an overdose awareness smudge walk starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Lake Country Co-op Food Store. It will proceed to the downtown beach and end with a candlelight vigil.

– with files from paNOW staff

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com