About 100 former and recovering addicts will march through St. Albert next week in celebration of sobriety.
Poundmaker’s Lodge is holding its annual Sober Walk next Wednesday. It’s the second time the event has been held in St. Albert.
Everyone knows somebody who has been touched by drug or alcohol addiction, said Don Langford, chair of the board at Poundmaker’s.
“We want to put an end to all this and help those who want to stay sober and clean,” he said.
This walk, which has been going on in Edmonton for about 37 years, brings former addicts together to show the world that addiction can be beaten.
At about 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, about 100 former addicts and supporters will walk from the Woodlands Water Play Park to St. Albert Place, waving placards and singing songs to the beat of an aboriginal drum. Many of those walking will be aboriginal.
First Nations, Métis and Inuit Canadians have the highest rates of drug abstinence in Canada, notes Colleen Dell, a professor of sociology and research chair in substance abuse at the University of Saskatchewan, but also have the highest rate of risky drug-related behaviours.
For example, about 61 per cent of First Nations youths aged 12 to 17 did not drink alcohol during the last year, according to the 2008/10 First Nations Regional Health Survey, compared to just 47 per cent of Canadian youths.
But those that did drink drank a lot – about 51 per cent of First Nations youth reported binge drinking at least once a month, compared to just 39 per cent of all Canadian youths.
The reason is cultural, Dell said.
“Knowing who you are is critical for healthy well being for anyone,” she said, and we’ve spent much of this country’s history trying to stomp out aboriginal identity.
Residential schools, the infamous “’60s scoop” (where thousands of aboriginal kids were taken from their homes and put up for adoption) and other practices suppressed aboriginal language and practices for generations, Dell said.
At the same time, aboriginals faced a barrage of negative stereotypes, she added.
“If you don’t have a strong understanding of who you are when you face those stereotypes and stigmas, they’re much more likely to have an impact on you,” Dell said. Many turned to drugs to cope.
The drug of choice 50 years ago was alcohol, Langford said, as many aboriginal soldiers self-medicated to escape shellshock. Nowadays, it’s prescription drugs, such as the painkiller oxycodone, and street drugs like crystal meth.
Addictions cost Canadians $40 billion a year in terms of lost wages, health-care and legal costs, Dell said, citing information from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. This is more than the annual cost of heart disease.
Poundmaker’s uses exercise, education and aboriginal practices such as sweat lodges to help residents find alternatives to their addictions, Langford said.
“We want to give our people other ways of feeling that feeling of well being.”
Statistics from the 2011 Canadian Alcohol and Drug Use Monitoring Survey suggest Canada is making some progress when it comes to fighting addictions. Just five per cent of youths aged 15 to 24 used one of five illicit drugs in the last year, for example, compared to 11 per cent in 2004, and just 71 per cent reported drinking alcohol – down from 83 per cent from 2004.
It’s up to individuals to find the resolve to get off drugs, Langford said. Few will succeed on their first try.
“I don’t know how many times I quit smoking before I finally quit,” he said, adding that he hasn’t had a cigarette since 1989.
Call Poundmaker’s at 780-458-1884 for details on the walk.
