Our Michelle Derosier guest on CBC Radio “The Current”

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Part Two of The Current

OxyContin Addiction (Pt 2) – James Morris, Health Authority

We started this segment with a clip from Doris Slipperjack crediting her 5-year-old son for motivating her to get help for her addiction to the prescription drug OxyContin, a narcotic from the same family as morphine and heroin. If you’re just joining us, Doris – a mother of three and recovering addict – told us her story in Part One of the program. Why is it happening and what needs to be done?

This half hour, we’ll hear some other perspectives on what First Nations leaders in northern Ontario are calling a crisis.

Leanne Tyler is a registered nurse at the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre. They’re dealing with a jump in the number of mothers and newborns addicted to oxycontin. About 20 percent of babies born at the centre experience withdrawal. We heard from her.

First Nations leaders in Northern Ontario are also alarmed at the rising numbers of mothers addicted to OxyContin and other prescription drugs. James Morris is the Executive Director of the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority. He was in Sioux Lookout.

OxyContin Addiction (Pt 2) – Susan Russell, Health Canada

Health Canada is one of several government agencies responsible for dealing with the health-related fallout from OxyContin addiction. Susan Russell is the Acting Regional Director for First Nations and Inuit Health Branch in Ontario. She was in Ottawa.

OxyContin Addiction (Pt 2) – Michelle Derosier, Social Worker

A few minutes ago we heard from James Morris, at the First Nations health authority in Sioux Lookout. Last year, in a desperate effort to put a spotlight on the toll OxyContin has taken on his community, he tried a different tack. He approached Michelle Derosier and asked her to make a film about it. The result is a documentary, The Life You Want: A Young Woman’s Struggle with Addiction. It tells the story of Doris Slipperjack, the young woman who spoke to us in our first half hour. Michelle Derosier is not only a film maker. She’s a social worker from the Eagle Lake First Nation in northern Ontario. She was in Thunder Bay.