Addiction, trauma, family dysfunction and bad luck.
That’s what people living in one of Toronto’s better known homeless encampments said pushed them to the margins of society. Canadian Affairs walked through Allan Gardens’ botanical garden and past a fenced-off playground before arriving at the encampment. We spoke with Monica and Jeff, two residents of the park, to learn their stories.
FD: How did you end up living in a tent in Allan Gardens?
Monica: Basically, I just got dealt a really shitty hand in life. Actually, that’s not totally true. I grew up pretty normal, probably until the age of 14, I’d say. And then my mom was prescribed opiates from doctors, she had some back surgery done. And she wasn’t aware at all about what happens when you take them for too long.
My aunt, I mean she’s passed away now, she was a little messed up and basically our high school where my brothers were going to, it’s like a quarter block away from her place and she’s one of those people that likes to get high with others, right? She was also on opiates at the time, and she started feeding my brothers little pieces of oxy here and there. And they liked it so much, and they weren’t aware of the side effects and what would happen if they kept taking it.
My mother, she stopped taking opiates for three days and she couldn’t understand why she was feeling so sick, throwing up and running to the toilet. She went back to the doctor and said she was really ill. He said, “Daphne, well, you know you’re due for your prescription. You’re not a stupid woman. Don’t you know you’ve got a physical dependency now?”
My mom is a really sweet person, really gullible, really trustworthy too. She didn’t ask many questions about this.
FD: How long have you been living in Allan Gardens?
Monica: I’ve been on and off here for like half a year, I’d say… Life’s hard everywhere, really. I don’t think there’s one person on this earth who doesn’t suffer in one way or another. I don’t think anyone here is much of a special case. I think, if anything, a lot of people here are drug users, and a lot of other people are mental health. Others, I’d say, like five per cent, I hate to say it, just got put in a really shitty situation. I think most of the world is like one paycheque away from being homeless.
FD: When you see drug use here, is it mostly fentanyl, benzos. What is most common?
Monica: I don’t really know.
FD (addressing Jeff): How often do you guys see overdoses here?
Jeff: I overdosed two weeks ago.
FD: I’m sorry. Tell me about that.
Jeff: I got lucky. [The people who helped me recover] for some reason didn’t give me the needle Narcan. They gave me the nostril Narcan, and it took three of the nasal Narcans to wake me up, whereas the needle Narcan would’ve been the one thing that would’ve woken me up faster.
FD: Was that your first time OD’ing?
Jeff: It was my second.
Monica: A lot of people are very careless as to how they use it. I know quite a few people on it, some people just take it not to be sick. There is the methadone program and what not. But people just can’t bring themselves to do the daily routine.
FD: I’m interested in fentanyl being cut with stuff. Have you noticed fentanyl being mixed with stuff?
Jeff: The reason people are doing fentanyl is because of the potency, right? The potency is a lot better. You’re doing less of it to get that feeling you’re chasing. It’s your highest level painkiller, and it will help bring down that pain in your body.
Me, personally, whenever I’ve decided to start using drugs and stuff like that, like when I first started using crystal meth, I had ADHD. It helped bring down my ADHD so that I could concentrate, so that I could sit there and have a conversation with most of the people in the room.
But the one thing I’ve said is that it’s no different from me going to my street pharmacist, or me going to the doctor and the doctor prescribing these things to me. If the doctor prescribes these things to me, that money doesn’t go into our economy necessarily, it goes into the doctor’s pocket and the doctor’s economy. If it goes into our economy… it’s going to go into my community, into my economy, where I live. So I know that things in my community can actually get better.
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