Stereotypical drug user or not, all lives are worth saving
KAMLOOPS — For many of us, the death of Ryan Pinneo in January of 2016 was the first indication something was different. The young Kamloops man had died of a fentanyl overdose. There were reasons this was different, and those are some of the reasons people took notice. Pinneo had a supportive family and a bright future, not the stereotypical burnout street junkie we previously associated with overdose deaths.
Yet for many, that negative stereotype remained true, and as this segment of the population saw overdose death numbers rising, they quietly said, “Good riddance to bad rubbish.” They decried public money going toward harm reduction initiatives that would save lives, because in their hearts, they believed those lives were not worth saving.
Now we have heard that the overdose epidemic has taken another person who doesn’t fit the stereotype. Christopher Seguin was by any standard very successful, well-known for his work in the community and the face of one of Kamloops’ signature institutions. Seguin had a loving and supportive family and an extensive network of people proud to call him their friend. Would that unsympathetic segment of the population still oppose harm reduction measures if those measures would have saved Christopher’s life? Unlikely.