Pharmacy assistant Ashley Legere is running a harm reduction program to help those who struggle with substance abuse.
She is working with the team at the Guardian Corner Drug Store to provide safe and free injection kits for those who need them.
Legere, who has been working in pharmacy for over eight years, says that her personal mandate is to help people in any way she can.
MC: How are pharmacies involved in opioid addiction? What is their role in opioid addiction?
AL: So it’s our place to provide an opioid replacement treatment therapy program, which involves either Suboxone or methadone. Suboxone is commercially available as a sublingual tablet. So we get that from the manufacturer, and methadone we actually make. The liquid comes pre mixed, 10 milligrams per mL in a bottle. Like if someone’s on say, 120 milligrams, then you drop 12 mLs, and you put that into every bottle, and then you mix it with Tang or crystallites or something. That’s just like the bare bones, that’s what we offer for medications. Otherwise, the pharmacists will counsel. We have access to resources. So numbers for treatment programs, numbers for detoxes, anything that we can do to support anyone who’s looking for help, we will. Generally, our job description doesn’t include those things. But it’s been, especially in a small community where we know everybody, we will do everything we can. If someone comes in looking for help, we will figure out a way to help them. Because it’s a small community, I know some of the needs of some of the people who come in, so I’m able to just offer that service. Like, “Is there something I can get you? Can I give you this instead? I understand that, you know, this is very difficult, and you don’t ever have to ask, but is it something I can do?” And so I just went from being, “Can I give you something for free to do you need a care package?” So this, quote unquote, care package is just a brown paper bag full of items that will help them inject safely. And so now, people who I’ve never said that to are coming in and asking for them.
MC: What comes in a kit? If you were to give somebody a kit, what comes in that?
AL: So it kind of changes depending on the need, but generally speaking… today I did up 30 kits. In each kit in the 30 that I made included ten (10) 1cc syringes, 5 little metal cookers…So that that stops people from using spoons or whatever they can find. And then 10 alcohol swabs, 10 cotton swabs and a tourniquet. That’s the bare bones of the kit.
MC: Why is it important to supply these safe injection tools to those with addictions?
AL: Addiction is going to happen, whether or not we do this sort of thing, right? So the important part of it is to make sure that everyone is being safe and has access to health care. So this stops the spread of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. It’s to help stop infections by using clean needles, things like endocarditis, which is a $50,000 cost to the healthcare system when it has to be treated. It’s very common that that happens when using used needles, and sharing needles. The insulin syringes are designed to only pierce the skin once, that’s it. If you look at them under a microscope, they actually start to barb after one use. So that’s why it’s important to use a new one every time. What I noticed the first time I started working in the pharmacy was that people would come in and buy a bag of syringes, and then I wouldn’t see them for two or three weeks. So I knew that they were either maybe getting them somewhere else, or they were reusing them because of the expense of them. That’s one less thing they would have to purchase so that they could not be sick. I just thought, why put that obstacle in the way? Same thing when it comes to birth control, or any of those things.
MC: What else in your experience is needed in New Brunswick to address opioid use and addiction, do you think?
AL: The access to treatment programs shouldn’t be so arduous. It is incredibly difficult if you don’t have the resources, access to the internet, access to health care, to actually find out that there are treatment programs available. There’s the opioid treatment center in Moncton and there’s like a Cameron street clinic, which is a methadone clinic Dr. Levesque runs in Moncton, and there’s the Phoenix clinic and all of these opportunities that aren’t advertised. And, for the most part, are very difficult to get into because there’s not enough funding for this sort of thing. I’m in the works of getting some grant money to put enclosed sharps containers like that are fairly small, I would say a foot tall by half a foot wide, in the hopes that I can put them around town. So if you do come across something, or you’re a diabetic and you have to give yourself insulin in the middle of the park, there is a sharps container that you can put your sharp in. So I’m looking for funding for that, which is in the works, I should know in the next couple of weeks if we’re approved for it, and then we’ll purchase these items. I’m also going to do, hopefully, if I can find the space and the resources, an arts for sharps night. [It] is just a bunch of sharps containers and the community comes together and they paint sharps containers to be distributed to local businesses as a way to raise awareness of the opioid crisis that does plague rural Canada. [I’m] hoping that we can get some local artists in some places, some community members, and we’re going to do pop up in naloxone training at that event.
In a Joint Statement from the Co-Chairs of the Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses, Dr. Theresa Tam and Dr. Jennifer Russell wrote the following concerning substance use disorder:
“Reducing the stigma associated with substance use, and providing people with services and supports that best meet their needs, and reduce harm is more important now than ever. This includes collaboration across sectors to address the underlying drivers of this crisis – such as mental illness, socioeconomic factors (e.g., housing, employment), social inclusion and access to health services – that put Canadians at increased risk.”
Public Health Agency of Canada, September 30.
16,364 people died from opioid overdoses in Canada between January 1, 2016 and March 31 of this year.
1,018 of the deaths and 1,067 of the hospitalizations happened within the first three months of this year.
Anyone who may need clean and free injection supplies can visit the Guardian at 106 Main Street to pick them up from a pharmacist.
Should anyone require additional supplies, such as pipes or condoms, Legere says that those can be requested in the pharmacy or over the phone at (506) 536-2255.
Phoenix Clinic in Moncton can be reached at (506) 854-4673.
Cameron Street Clinic, also in Moncton, can be reached at (506) 858-0287.
By Meg Cunningham.
