Murray Wood: Of Easter bunny bells and Juicy Fruit gum
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Less than 10 years ago, Danita Wahpoosewyan was an addict, finding drugs where she could to ease her trauma and pain.
But these days, she has kicked the habit and, in the midst of an overdose death crisis in Saskatchewan, uses her knowledge and experience to help others.
As Saskatchewan has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic in the last year, another crisis has taken a back seat — deaths by drug overdose.
In 2020, there were 273 confirmed drug overdose deaths in the province — 96 more than in 2019 — with another 67 suspected cases waiting to be confirmed.
This year hasn’t been any better, with 125 drug toxicity deaths suspected and 46 confirmed in just the first 153 days of the year.
In this series, Hidden Crisis, we get to know the people in the middle of the crisis, those who’ve died, those left behind, and those who are tasked with helping stem the flood of bodies.
These days, the majority of overdose deaths in the province involve fentanyl, but when Wahpoosewyan was using, her drug of choice was cocaine.
“The amount of drugs I was doing before I quit would probably kill somebody … I started having to do big shots because the little ones weren’t working, I wasn’t getting anything out of it. Then that’s when my body started racing. My heart felt like I was going to get a heart attack,” said Wahpoosewyan.
She said she’d overdosed before, but by the end, every time she shot up she would have scary episodes.
“I was seeing things,” she said. “I was almost having heart attacks every time I would use.”
Like many people with addictions issues, Wahpoosewyan tried a few times to stop.
In 2005, Wahpoosewyan was diagnosed with HIV, contracted through using injection drugs. She got involved with a life skills program and decided she wanted to get treatment for her addictions.
She continued on for several years, working on herself, getting a job and volunteering. But in 2012 she relapsed.
“I would basically say I think I hit my rock bottom,” said Wahpoosewyan.
She lost her job, her partner, her home and her four-year-old son. But Wahpoosewyan soon moved to Saskatoon where she quit using injection drugs and, after a couple years, she got her son back.
Wahpoosewyan said to heal, she had to address her traumas and learn about forgiveness. She explained there’s a lot of intergenerational trauma in her family — she was caught up in the ’60s Scoop and her father was a product of residential schools.
“I suffered a lot of trauma in my life — losses — and I didn’t know how to effectively cope, didn’t know how to go through the trauma, so what I was doing (was) I was coping with drugs,” she said.
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Wahpoosewyan credits prayer and getting back in touch with her culture as a big part of her recovery — she prays and smudges every day. She also credits her family, saying that wanting to see her kids and grandkids grow up gave her the drive to stay clean.
“I see the effects of drugs and what they can do and combined with HIV you’re not going to live a long time. For me, I have plans on living a long time, I have plans on growing old and I have plans to be healthy,” said Wahpoosewyan.
That’s also what she tells the people she works with. Wahpoosewyan is now a “wellness warrior,” a peer consultant, at Wellness Wheel. She’s working to build a peer network within the First Nations communities in wellness, and she also helps people living with addictions, and HIV and Hepatitis C.
“We help them navigate the health-care system, all kinds of systems like social and justice — things that they need help with,” said Wahpoosewyan.
“I’m able to help and guide them, I’m mentoring them (and) I’m also a role model. For them, it’s keeping them connected so we keep them engaged in their health care.”
Wahpoosewyan has family members still struggling with addictions, and recently lost a nephew to a fentanyl overdose. She said he’d been in the hospital for an abscess in his leg. He left for a few hours to use and overdosed but was revived. Then he brought drugs back into the hospital.
“There he did his final shot and then he overdosed in the bathroom in his room,” said Wahpoosewyan.
Her younger brother, that nephew’s father, also struggles with drugs and Wahpoosewyan said he has overdosed five times that she knows of.
“He wasn’t talking a lot about his child’s death but I could tell that he was in a state of depression, or he is in a state of depression, and just not caring about himself,” explained Wahpoosewyan.
Wahpoosewyan said her family lives in a constant state of grief.
“I’m always thinking, ‘OK, well, when’s the next phone call?’ Or ‘We’re going to get a phone call pretty soon,’ ” she said.
She worries about her family and she thinks they must worry too, knowing so many people are dying from overdoses.
“(But) when I was living as a drug-addicted person, when I wanted to get high, I went and got high. That drug that they’re seeking just kind of overpowers — especially with the fentanyl,” said Wahpoosewyan.
She knows there’s a stigma attached to addictions and she remembers that, in that state, often you’re too ashamed to get help.
Like almost anyone working in addictions right now, Wahpoosewyan said more needs to be done to help.
“I’m hearing of at least one death a day and that could be one death prevented,” said Wahpoosewyan.
She personally knows close to 10 people who’ve died in the last year connected to drugs.
Hear more of Wahpoosewyan’s story here.
