How to fight Quebec's toxic drug problem? A former user says change the conversation

This is the second of two articles looking at the issue of drug overdoses in Quebec, where the situation is heading and what needs to be done to curb this trend.

You can read the first article here.

The turning point in Martin Rivest's recovery from a crystal meth addiction came when his doctor, in an attempt to provide comfort, told him: "Martin, addiction is a disease."

"It gave me a sense of relief. I was like 'OK, I'm not a bad person,'" said Rivest, looking back at his struggles from about 15 years ago.

"A lot of people that are affected by the drug crisis, a lot of it is due to shame, stigmatization, judgment from others and a lack of respect."

Rivest now does outreach work with the Association québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD), a group in downtown Montreal that advocates for safe drug consumption and is run by people who use drugs or did so in the past.

The stigma, Rivest believes, doesn't just come from friends, family or strangers. It comes from people in power.

Rivest and others believe that too much of the discussion around Quebec's opioid crisis ignores the perspectives of the people who, according to him, are the most knowledgeable about the issue: drug users and those who work with them.

Advocates say overcoming the crisis is complicated, but it starts with an openness to ideas they've been pushing for years: having a real conversation about decriminalizing simple drug possession and ending the stigmatization of users.

And with fatal overdoses in Quebec occurring at an unprecedented frequency, those advocates say decision makers need to finally listen up. 

"Frankly, we feel abandoned. We don't feel heard or taken seriously. We get the feeling they view us like children," said Rivest.

"We like to say in French, rien sur nous sans nous, So nothing for us without us. We are part of the solution because we  are the users. We know the problem." 

As far as fatal drug overdoses are concerned, 2025 is not off to an encouraging start: 153 deaths between Jan. 1 and March 31, according to the province's public health institute, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ). 

In 2024, Quebec recorded 645 confirmed or suspected fatal overdoses, by far the highest total ever recorded in the province. The numbers have been trending upwards over the last decade.