As the end of the year slowly draws closer, Niagara’s health care providers are anticipating a record number in opioid overdoses logged in 2021, as users continue to navigate a landscape where the next fix could mean an accidental overdose resulting in death.
From January to July 2021, there were 509 suspected opioid overdoses in Niagara that were responded to by EMS. This is approximately 73 responses per month – roughly one every ten hours, and already close to last year’s total despite a few months remaining on this year.
Among those numbers was 21-year-old Jake Borisenko from St Catharines, who accidentally overdosed on what is believed to be a Xanax-knock off, laced with the potent opioid Fentanyl.
Jakes father Steve Borisenko told ThoroldToday.ca in an interview about how his son, a hard worker who grew up loving hockey and hip hop, ended up in a downward spiral when he lost his factory job to the pandemic, caving under anxiety and depression brought on by not having his daily routine to keep him going.
“Nothing could replace purpose. We couldn’t make him happy again,” said Steve Borisenko.
“He just didn’t have any purpose to wake up in the morning. He would just sleep.”
Despite having an open conversation about the issues with their son, the family were forced to see when both medical intervention, as well as therapy both failed to help.
Jake, as well as several of his friends, had taken to social media to buy drugs, and went for late-night parties. Borisenko said he saw several of Jake’s friends getting pulled into drugs, at the same time as his son.
One night in June, something went wrong, as Jake either took too much of what he was using, or ended up with something that did not have the strength advertised. It could have been one of the drug batches that recently was subject to a warning to users in the region that led to his untimely death.
Naloxone had saved his life back in February, when he also ended up overdosing after using opioids.
This time it wasn’t on hand, and Steve Borisenko was forced to receive the news every parent has nightmares of.
Had Naloxone been available, things might have looked different today.
“A lot of people need to get educated no what Naloxone is, how it works and how to get it, and what you should look for in an overdose, because it does not take that much time,” said Borisenko.
“We need to get the stigma away. If you are stepping into a pharmacy and asking for a Naloxone-kit, it doesn’t mean that you are a user. It means that you are adding something to your first-aid kit and preparing to save someone’s life.”
Raj Ondhia, a Niagara pharmacist, who has been working around the region and advocating for access to Naloxone agreed that removing the stigma is a key part of the work in preventing deadly overdoses.
“In my daily practice I always offer a Naloxone-kit to anyone who is getting opioid-based medications to try and get as many out in the community as possible,” said Ohndia.
“The beauty of the medication is that it is the safest thing that I dispense in a day. If you have come across a suspected opioid overdose and don’t know for certain, you can still give them a dose of Naloxone, and it will have no effect on them if they have not been taking opioids. It won’t cause any harm.”
Naloxone can either be administerd via a syringe or as a nasal spray - the most common method dispensed by Ohndia, who says it requires little to no training to dispense.
For Steve Borisenko, access and education about Naloxone is a no-brainer, and something he thinks everyone should be aware of, amid the raging opioid epidemic. Now he is also working to develop an app with a handful of safety features, like sending out a push notification whenever there is a drug advisory issued over a potent batch. More information about that can be found on the website Jacobs Wall.
“My son was taken from me, and there have been shockwaves. Every day you look for reasons to try and wake up, because it is hard. You are trying to learn how to deal with it, but it is an ongoing process, and I just don’t want anyone going through this again. I know they are going to, but if I can help through sharing my story, I have to.”
