Sur la route des surdoses: un portrait canadien

The overdose crisis continues to grow in Canada, and those involved in intervention must innovate to propose solutions. This exploratory research aims to paint a portrait of the situation, understand prevention efforts, and hear the experiences of people who have lived an overdose and those who intervene in this context.

A qualitative, descriptive-interpretive approach was adopted. Data collection took place in 2021 and 2022 in four Canadian provinces and 11 cities. A variety of data collection methods were used, including a logbook, periods of participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with 39 caregivers, 10 peer caregivers, and 11 service users. A thematic analysis of the material was carried out.

Mobilizing Nancy Fraser's critical theory, our results present an inequitable distribution of resources, the exclusion of representation mechanisms, and institutionalized denials of recognition. Several interventions implemented in response to overdoses or transformed to better address the crisis are identified. We situate them according to the recognition and redistribution of solutions, whether more corrective or more radical.

Structural reforms aimed at improving the recognition and redistribution of resources are essential if interventions are to retain their innovative potential in the context of the overdose crisis, while being part of a longer-term aim of social transformation.