GUEST EDITORIAL – People with allergies should get equal treatment to those who OD on fentanyl
Naloxone kit.
In place of Jim Harrison’s editorial, a guest editorial today from frequent contributor Jayne Aulis of Westwold.
WHILE I APPLAUD our government’s efforts to save those who have overdosed on fentanyl by supplying those on the front line with naloxone kits, it also infuriates me.
While I totally understand that drug addicts are just that, addicts in need of medical intervention, I find myself getting more and more angry that THEIR lives seem to have a higher value than mine.
These people have chosen to turn to drugs and now with all this fentanyl crap going on their lives are saved, for free. And if they need more than one dose of naloxone it is given to them, also free of charge.
I am NOT an addict! I do NOT do drugs. But I AM deathly allergic to bee, wasp, hornet and yellow jacket stings! I have approximately 20 minutes to get medical attention — not a very long time when you happen to live at least 45 minutes away from the closest hospital.
There are no first responders in our area equipped with epi pens because they happen to have a fairly short shelf life of one year. Given that fact that the effects of one dose of Epin-ephrine, which is the drug in the epi pen, lasts approximately 10-20 minutes. As mentioned earlier, I am 45 minutes from the nearest hospital which means we would need to purchase up to five epi pens at a cost of approximately $100 each.
I didn’t choose to be this allergic. I haven’t done anything wrong nor have I done or taken anything illegal, yet I feel that our government doesn’t see my life having as much value as a drug addicts.
Terry Lake is damn near obsessed with getting naloxone kits out to anyone who might come in contact with an addict. Anaphylaxis is life threatening. Anaphylaxis kills. Maybe Terry Lake should do some soul searching and think about the lives he feels are worth saving.
Listen to Jim Harrison’s editorials weekdays on Radio NL, and to the Jim Harrison Show at 9:08 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at jharrison@radionl.com.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Good point
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I think that maybe, someone , somewhere, told Terry Lake that addicts vote, and like the gullible politician that he is, he believed that.
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Well said, and I could not agree more, when when when did saving the tragic life of someone who willingly takes chances with illegal drugs come to mean so very much, and I also must mention that this is the first time during his service that I have seen Terry Lake get excited about anything, sadly. His term as Health Minister has been just as bland as he is.
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Thank you, Jayne, for your point of view. My wife is also so allergic to some foods that we have an epi pen at home.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is an old saying. It’s a good one to apply to the case of ALL street drugs. NO STREET DRUG SHOULD BE CONSIDERED SAFE!!!! Apply some of the money used in trying to treat the problem to the education system to reach kids before they are enticed to try doing drugs.
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-Couldn’t agree more with the lady: Since this street ‘epidemic’ has arrived, we are supposed to be on alert for potential loss of life….Commendable, yet a little silly when it comes to health care costs…I mean, ‘They triage in hospitals, so why don’t they triage health care from the street, where risk is not avoided because the person indulges/risks their lives to folly?’ Maybe they need a detox centre that focusses on one’s wishing to get out of this life, so to speak, and have gradients of ‘care’ to get there…if, the person so-called chooses. I mean, hasn’t the choice already been made when you put that toxin into your system…just to get so-called ‘high’ in the first place? -Seriously, we need to review this mandate of governing care from the health perspective, not on the health care we’ve got, which is fragile enough already….
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