Premier Clark:
No one deserves to die like 22-year-old Katie Mather – another poor fentanyl addict who, like most, does not have the $25,000 to $40,000 to procure a bed in a private treatment clinic.
In a recent CBC news piece by Eric Rankin on the Surrey (drug addict) Strip, Ms. Mather was interviewed. Her face was bloody because she had been clawing at it. Fentanyl addicts suffering withdrawal claw their own skin off.
She said she has tried quitting a few times but couldn’t hang on long enough to get into a treatment bed. If you don’t have enough money, you must join a long queue and wait. She said she called every day for three months and then she relapsed.
Fentanyl addicts are in acute danger of death every time they use. The province is not doing enough.
Our medical system is very good at treating acute medical issues. Please do what it takes to make access to drug addiction treatment easier and faster. The wait is too deadly.
Please treat this like the epidemic it is.
James Graham, Gibsons
