Stephen Maynard found himself struggling while trying to get medical attention for his chronic pain.
But 18 months ago, he says, he found himself a “godsend.”
River Stone Recovery Center in downtown Fredericton opened in July 2020 and an injectable opioid agonist treatment program began in October of that year.
The program allows participants with treatment-resistant opioid use disorder to obtain a prescription for liquid hydromorphone that can be taken up to three times each day by self-injection in the clinic.
“I don’t have to get up and figure out where I’m going to get my meds in the morning, in the afternoon, and throughout the day,” said Maynard.
“This stability every day. This is a huge pressure off my shoulders.”
Maynard said his opioid use began due to several car accidents that led to leg, hip, back and neck pain. But because of the barriers to getting proper treatment, Menard said he turned to the street for drugs, not knowing if they were coming from a trustworthy source.
89% of the program participants were housed after two years
The parenteral therapy program has 62 participants, with more than 300 people seeking services such as oral medications and in-clinic treatment.
According to a recent survey with participants, 90 percent of those receiving treatment for more than six months had positive changes in their lives because of the programme, including improvements in mental and physical health and reduced conflict, said Dr. Sarah Davidson, a family physician and medical director of the clinic.
She said there was also a 100 percent reduction in sex work for the participants.
“These findings offer us a glimmer of hope that treatment is the best way to reduce drug-related crime,” Davidson said. “The vast majority of participants remain in the programme, and most remain outside the criminal justice system.”
“But the best, slowly but surely, are getting their lives back.”
After 18 months in the program, only 17 percent of participants were using opioids outside of the injection program, said Christine Cross, program director at River Stone who created the survey. Of that number, she said, many were only used outside of the program when they were sick or unable to get to a clinic for their dose.
Cross said there have been good results for those in the program to get housing.
She said 84 percent of those who participated in the treatment were homeless at some point, but after three months of treatment, 20 percent had housing. After six months, that had doubled to 40 percent and after two years in the program, Cross said 89 percent of participants had stable housing.
“So much potential,” says the medical director
Davidson said there are a lot of stereotypes about people who struggle with addiction, but she said there is a group of people who attend the program. She said they are creative, flexible, and have diverse life stories.
“Under the right circumstances, anyone can achieve their potential,” said Davidson.
Dr. Sarah Davidson says the River Stone Recovery Center has led to a decrease in illegal activity among participants, but barriers are still felt.
She said the clinic was pressing the Higgs government for more housing. She said they are trying to show that providing stable housing is the best way to “face drug-related crime”.
“We could look at building prisons. But frankly, that money would be much better invested in building housing units. A $32 million jail would probably provide us about 450 new units for the Fredericton area, if you look at one of the housing first,” Davidson said. “So there is a lot of potential in how we can provide people with housing.”
River Stone opened a clinic in St. John’s in July, and Davidson said it would like to expand across the county. She said there are people in rural communities who are struggling who could benefit from the programme.
Looking forward to the future
For Maynard, it is important to share his own experience with addiction and recovery because he wants people to know that people who struggle with addiction are all individuals.
He said he is now on a proper treatment regimen, and said he was “lucky” to have an apartment, but it “eats up” much of his income. Looking ahead, he said he would like to have a stable job.
“I’m a work in progress. That’s a huge cornerstone to build on.”
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