Sitting at their kitchen table in Canmore, Glen and Louise Crawford are filled with a mix of anger, frustration and at times overwhelming grief as they come to terms with the death of their 30-year-old son.
In April, it will be two years since Jordan Crawford died in his Calgary apartment after inhaling heroin tainted with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that has killed more than 1,400 people in Alberta since 2016.
“To be honest, I’m still in a massive state of shock and the guilt is huge,” said Louise, her voice cracking. “There was no way he wanted to die … but right now I can barely make supper without seeing him.”
The Crawford family is part of a growing number of families across Canada that have been devastated by the opioid crisis that continues to kill thousands of people every year, including here in the Bow Valley.
Since 2016, three people have died from accidental opioid poisoning in the Bow Valley, according to statistics provided by Alberta Health Services (AHS).
It’s unclear if fentanyl was to blame in each of those cases, however according to the provincial health agency, almost all opioid poisoning deaths are now related to fentanyl, which accounted for 92 per cent of all opioid related deaths in Alberta through the first six months of 2018.
Part of the alarming nature of the opioid crisis is that fentanyl has been found in every illicit drug in the Bow Valley and all it takes is one bad line of cocaine or one unforgiving pill of ecstasy to kill someone. It also doesn’t discriminate based on age, gender or socio-economic status.
Born and raised in Canmore, Jordan was just like the rest of his peers. He grew up in a loving family home and got to witness his sisters’ Chandra and Rosanna’s athletic successes, both of whom competed in the Winter Olympics.
As a young man he lived a relatively carefree life exploring the mountains with his dogs and found his own calling working as a professional chef at local restaurants in town. He also completed a TV broadcast diploma at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
To his friends he was an outgoing, social guy with a magnetic personality that often made him the life of the party.
Yet behind his larger-than-life personality he had his own personal demons, often disappearing for days at a time on alcohol-fuelled benders, or showing up drunk at his parents’ house.
“He was such an affable kind of person that it helped to disguise that he had a lot of underlining insecurities, so part of his way of coping, which most people have, was to use something that helped him to feel better,” said Louise.
Through his early 20s, his drinking was largely accepted as part of growing up in the Bow Valley, but by the time he turned 28 it was clear he had a problem and tried to seek help.
Despite repeated attempts to get sober, including going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, rehab programs and the hospital, he would inevitably relapse, starting the cycle all over again.
For his parents it became obvious that the health care services offered by AHS weren’t working.
“Although AHS was concerned about our well being, they failed to provide us with the tools to help Jordan in his struggle,” said Louise, explaining the provincial health agency failed to treat their son’s addiction as a mental illness.
“That’s what was so discouraging to us,” said Glen. “Alberta Health Services would not actually admit that or bring that up, it was all just about the addiction and how you treat the addiction.”
After two years of trying to find the proper help for their son, they eventually ran out of options for him in Canmore and hoped a private rehab centre in Calgary would help. However, less than a month into the program he got kicked out.
Faced with the possibility of living on the street, he managed to find an apartment with a roommate and began getting help for his addiction from a nearby homeless shelter. However on April 17, 2017, he was found dead in his bedroom. The toxicology report confirmed he died from inhaling a lethal concoction of heroin laced with fentanyl.
“If anybody ever tells you that your loved one has to hit rock bottom that’s the sign to turn around and start fighting because Jordan found rock bottom,” said Glen.
Spencer Schneider, the local manager for addictions and mental health for AHS, said the health agency approaches addiction as a chronic disease.
“There’s already enough stigma attached to use, so in our eyes it’s no different than somebody going through cancer treatment,” said Schneider, highlighting a suite of services available to people with addiction problems, opioid dependency or mental health concerns.
“Whether it’s an addiction or mental health, or both, out clinicians are trained on either side of that.”
As tragic as Jordan’s story is, it continues to play out over-and-over again for families across the country as fentanyl finds its way into every illicit drug on the black market, including in the Bow Valley.
In recent months the RCMP seized drugs in Banff that contained fentanyl as well as carfentanil, a synthetic derivative considered 100 times more deadly. In Canmore, RCMP officers recently seized fentanyl patches.
“I’m surprised, and very pleasantly surprised, that we have not had deaths in our community and I can’t really put my finger on why,” said Banff RCMP Staff Sgt. Mike Buxton-Carr.
“We know that a lot of the drugs that are being sold here originate either from Vancouver or from Calgary and we see what’s happening in both of those communities in terms of opioid overdoses and death, so why we’re not seeing it as large here I don’t really know.”
Regardless, he said he remains very concerned because all it takes is one bad batch of drugs in the community to have a devastating effect.
“I look at my experience in British Columbia and over night we went from a community of seven overdose deaths in a year to 49 the next year. That’s how quickly it escalated and I don’t want to see that here.”
Canmore RCMP Sgt. Stan Andronyk echoed his colleague’s concerns.
“It can kill you,” said Andronyk, bluntly. “You don’t get a lot of second chances with it.”
While fentanyl has been seized in Canmore, he said it’s not as prevalent as in other communities.
“I wouldn’t say we’re seeing a lot. We’ve made some seizures where it’s discovered as part of another investigation, but I wouldn’t say we’re seeing it commonly.”
While the Bow Valley has so far been spared from the worst of the crisis, it isn’t immune.
Since 2015, 80 people have either been hospitalized or taken to the emergency department for opioid related use at Canmore General Hospital, according to statistics provided by AHS.
In Banff, exact numbers were not provided because of privacy concerns, however the provincial health agency confirmed there have been less than 10 hospitalizations or emergency room visits related to opioid use per year since 2015.
While those statistics are concerning, the overall trend appears to be headed in the right direction with fewer opioid related visits to either hospitals in 2018.
The Bow Valley Opioid Task Force, which includes a number of local organizations and front line workers, said the downward trend is a positive development.
“It’s very encouraging to see that the numbers seem to have leveled off, or dropped from what they were previously,” said Alison Gerrits, chair of the task force and director of community services for the Town of Banff.
She credited the drop to greater public awareness about fentanyl and access to more harm reduction programs, such as free naloxone kits to reverse overdoses.
The task force was established in the fall of 2017 after the RCMP and first responders confirmed there had been an overdose in Banff linked to drugs laced with fentanyl.
In an effort to prevent further overdoses, the task force launched a community awareness campaign to increase people’s awareness about the presence of fentanyl and carfentanil in the Bow Valley’s drug supply.
The campaign, which was paid for through a $35,000 grant from the province, included posters, a website and social media ads. It also included bar coasters distributed to local establishments.
“We decided to propose a campaign that was targeted toward the unsuspecting user, or an individual who would not expect that what they were consuming could have traces of fentanyl or carfentanil in them,” said Gerrits.
The premise of each advertisement was to highlight the risk or gamble of using party drugs like cocaine or ecstasy.
“They’re all tied to this notion around taking a chance,” said Gerrits.
For example, the idea behind the coaster was to demonstrate that taking drugs was like flipping a coin, there’s no guarantee.
“It’s a harm reduction approach,” said Gerrits. “We acknowledge that recreational drugs are being consumed, but I don’t think anyone is expecting to consume something that could ultimately be lethal.”
To get the message across, the task force ran two campaigns: one from Canada Day to Labour Day weekend to reach seasonal staff and one over the holidays to reach winter staff.
According to statistics provided by the task force, its social media campaign over the summer garnered 185,000 impressions and reached nearly 65 to 70 per cent of its primary and secondary audiences 20 or more times.
“Ultimately we simply want to ensure that everyone is aware that recreational drugs could contain a lethal substance,” said Gerrits. “Carfentanil is here, fentanyl is here and it has been in every recreational drug we’re aware of.”
Bow Valley mental health and addiction services
• Walk-in service is available for urgent mental health care needs at Canmore General Hospital and Banff Mineral Springs Hospital from 2 to 9 p.m. seven days a week. No appointment or health care card is required. The service can help people with depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide or self-harm, overwhelming stress, addictions and other situations that cause a person to be in crisis.
• Mental health counselling for individuals is available by appointment through Alberta Health Services at the Canmore Boardwalk building (743 Railway Ave.). The office is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed over the noon hour for lunch. To book an appointment, call 1-877-652-4700 and hit extension 3 for the Bow Valley.
• Mental health counselling for individuals, couples and families is available by appointment through Alberta Health Services at the Banff Community Health Centre (303 Lynx St.). The office is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed over the noon hour for lunch. To book an appointment, call 1-877-652-4700 and hit extension 3 for the Bow Valley.
• For those who need immediate help they can call the local distress centre 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 403-678-4696 extension 1.
• Opioid dependency treatment is available in Calgary through the Opioid Dependency Program. This service provides physician-supervised methadone or suboxone maintenance treatment in an outpatient setting. The program also provides counselling, treatment planning, referrals to additional treatment options. Individuals can access this program by contacting Access Mental Health at 403-943-1500.
• Help with addictions is also available through Canmore Addiction Services. This program provides information, prevention, and outpatient treatment services for youth and adults with substance abuse or gambling problems, and to their family members or friends. This program is located in the Canmore Boardwalk Building (743 Railway Ave.). It is open Monday to Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed for the lunch hour. Call 403-678-4696.
• Adult Addiction Services provides treatment for all substances. The program provides personalized assessment, treatment, and referral services for adults with alcohol, other drug, tobacco, or gambling concerns, as well as friends and family members whose lives have been affected by someone else’s addiction problems. The program is located in downtown Calgary. Some of the services include: individual counselling, support groups, services for those concerned about their mental health or addiction issues, and psycho-educational groups on a range of topics including effects of gambling/alcohol/other drug use, relapse prevention, emotional recovery, and supports for family members. Further information can be obtained by contacting Access Mental Health at 403-943-1500.
• Visit www.bowvalleydrugrisks.ca for more information about how to prevent an opioid overdose.
