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Algoma Public Health goes to the movies to discuss opioids

This article was posted original on SooToday on by Darren Taylor. reposted with permission.

Source: https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/algoma-public-health-goes-to-the-movies-to-discuss-opioids-6596392

An opportunity to hear from local voices in the battle against fentanyl abuse will take place at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25 at The Grand Theatre when the Shadows of the Mind Film Festival will screen the documentary Love in the Time of Fentanyl.

Admission is free but donations are accepted at the door.

“Following that we’ll be hosting a discussion panel, talking about the movie, the current context and where to go from here,” said Dr. John Tuinema, Algoma Public Health acting medical officer of health, speaking to the APH board of health at its regular monthly meeting held Wednesday evening.

The panel will include Tuinema, people who have lived through the fentanyl experience, an addiction medicine physician and representatives from Save Our Young Adults, Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services, Canadian Mental Health Association and Sault Area Hospital.

“This initiative underscores the importance of local partnerships, particularly the inclusion of voices with lived experience, as we move forward together,” Tuinema wrote in a report for the board at Wednesday’s meeting.

“In Algoma and across northern Ontario, the worsening opioid crisis remains a top concern. Algoma Public Health continues to work with partners across multiple sectors to address opioid-related harms through treatment and harm reduction approaches as well as prevention and community safety initiatives. In addition, community dialogue is very important. The opportunity to share personal narratives of hardship and success, speak about community developments, and spread messages of hope can help Algoma stay strong, together,” Tuinema wrote. 

Love in the Time of Fentanyl is an 80-minute documentary produced in 2022.

Set in Vancouver, the film looks at the Overdose Prevention Society, a supervised drug consumption site that employs active and former drug users in their fight to save lives.

Love in the Time of Fentanyl aims to look beyond the stigma of people who use fentanyl and other drugs.

 

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