The war on lives: A look inside the opioid crisis

North America is facing an unprecedented crisis in its war on drugs. And that’s because it’s taken on a new face and is waging war on thousands of lives, communities and families across all races, genders and socio-economic backgrounds with a scope unlike what we’ve ever seen. In the first installment of TELUS’ new TELUS Health Originals documentary series, award-winning filmmaker Matthew Embry takes a heartbreaking look at what has become a public health emergency devasting North America through his new documentary: Painkiller: Inside the Opioid Crisis.

The crisis in numbers

• In 2017, there were nearly 4,000 opioid-related deaths in Canada
• Between January and March 2018 alone, 73% of accidental apparent opioid-related deaths involved fentanyl, compared to 54% in 2016 and 72% in 2017
• Fentanyl, which is responsible for the rise in overdoses and deaths, is 50 to 100 times stronger than Morphine, and is also colourless, odorless and tasteless. A quantity similar to a few small grains of salt is sufficient to cause overdose and death
• 1 out of 5 people who get prescribed an opioid will become a long-term user within 10 days

A multi-faceted problem

Featuring interviews with every day families who share their personal stories of how their lives have been devastated by the opioid crisis, this film takes the viewer on the multiple paths to addiction and initiates the necessary conversations to help remove the stigma surrounding it. For some, it begins with an opioid in prescribed form, often to treat a medical condition or chronic pain, which later evolve into an addiction, access to illegal drugs, an overdose leaving important traces and leaving survivors with after-effects and often, critical motor and cognitive disabilities.

For others, it’s the access to the illegal market where opioids increasingly contain the lethal Fentanyl, even in trace amounts. We witness the grief of loving and shattered families, the daily battle of healthcare workers and law enforcement who are often the closest to the reality on the street, the work of public health professionals advocating for change in legislation, and those who feel harm reduction and decriminalization is the way forward.

But all stakeholders in the film agree: addiction is a public health issue and more needs to be done on the awareness, prevention and remediation front.