Dr. Roy Wilson students at Opioids don't discriminate event (Photo by Colton McKee)

By Hayley Ferguson

Opioid Crisis

‘Opioids don’t Discriminate’ event opens the eyes of students in Medicine Hat

Nov 19, 2019 | 5:57 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – It was a silent room of students as Kym Porter told her experience of losing her son Neil to the opioid crisis.

While it’s an issue many of them, had heard of, they didn’t quite understand how big an issue it is and that anyone can be affected.

That’s why the Medicine Hat Drug Coalition decided to host ‘Opioids don’t Discriminate.’

The exhibit allowed the students to follow the story of 16-year-old Max, a good student who falls into drugs after his family moves to a new town.

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While the name is made up, Dr. Lena Derie-Gillespie said that the story is very real.

“You gotta remember that there are people at the heart of this. Even sometimes people, we get focused on the science or on the stats. But these are people’s lives,” said Dr. Derie-Gillespie.

Students were also trained on how to use a naloxone kit.

For grade 8 Dr. Roy Wilson student Veyda Bellrose, she says that she’s seen a lot of presentations on the danger of drugs.

She said this journey and listening to Porter made it more impact though.

“It was very emotional. And I felt it on another level. It’s just really sad to see that parents have to suffer that and the children that they had have to suffer that as well,” she said.

Porter said that she wanted to be a part of the program to open up these students’ eyes.

She also believes that having these conversations will help end the stigma, judgments, and biases people can have about addiction.

“These children can change the future. And so if they carry a little bit of open-minded compassion into the world, the world will be a better place,” she smiled softly.

Dr. Derie-Gillespie agreed, saying having more compassion and understanding.

“I think I really want people to understand that this isn’t about us and them. We’re all the same. This could be any one of us at any time in our life,” she said. “And that just being negative, just being mean, just being a bully, isn’t going to change anything. The only hope we’ve got is to try to show some compassion and work together.”