Local organizations and key players continue to help people in the construction and trades battle addiction as the toxic drug supply continues to rock Greater Victoria.
Trevor Botkin, a former carpenter who spent time in an addiction treatment centre, would be the first person to tell you that addiction can happen to anyone.
"There were people from all walks of life – sales, medical professionals, armed forces personnel, first-line responders. One of the things that allowed me to step out of a lot of my shame was realizing this is actually a pretty universal problem."
Today, Botkin, five years sober and community development manager at Umbrella Society, runs Hammer Time, an addictions support group for people in the construction industry. He knows how slippery the slope into addiction can be.
It wasn't until a near suicide attempt that Botkin finally hit rock bottom and checked himself into rehab, ultimately turning his life around.
"I think men in general have a hard time talking about these things. Inevitably, I think in my case, I ended up in a position where I thought I was alone ... I felt like they would think that I was weak or not up to the task and I would start losing the respect and the positions that I had gained as a leader on job sites. So I thought it very seriously would impact my livelihood."
But in the end, he was glad he reached out.
"Before I went public, I had 99 different fears, and 98 of them were unfounded," he said.
When the 2018 B.C. Coroner's Report, Illicit Drug Overdose Deaths in B.C., came out, it found the construction, trades and transport industries were over-represented. Fifty-five per cent of people who died of an overdose and were employed at the time of death were reported by family or friends to be working in those industries.
Vancouver Island Construction Association (VICA) reacted swiftly, creating a resource program called the Tailgate Toolkit.
Over 8,000 workers to date have heard the Tailgate Toolkit's educational message about addiction and how to get help. While Botkin said the response has been very positive, he thinks it'll be years before a seismic shift is seen in the overall drug scene.
He also noted that community recovery resources are not full in the summertime; it's in the fall and winter when people start meeting up with the "consequences of their summer" and realize they have a problem.
On top of this fact, unregulated drug deaths continue to happen at high rates across B.C., with 6.2 deaths per day in the population in June 2024.
Rory Kulmala, CEO of VICA, said they continue to do their due diligence to combat the problem.
"When we're starting to see those numbers not go down, we know that some of them have access to our sector," Kulmala said.
The industry is demanding physically, which often calls for pain management. Its demographic also correlates to the demographic most vulnerable to addiction: men aged 20-54. This trend hasn't changed since 2018 when the Tailgate Toolkit was launched: in the latest 2024 Unregulated Deaths summary, 74 per cent of toxic drug deaths in B.C. were male.
What has changed is the response of the industry, explained Kulmala.
The Tailgate Toolkit, started by VICA as a grassroots initiative in partnership with Island Health, and expanding in 2020 across B.C. with support from the Ministry of Mental Health & Addictions, has four pillars. There are on-site/virtual talks, 365 of which have been given to date, supervisor training, regionally focused resource packages, and Hammer Time.
"In the old days, we'd fire them [if they came to work impaired]. Now we're certainly not going to let them go to work but it may be a different conversation that asks, how can I help you? We're teaching people to help rather than judge," Kulmala said.
However, Kulmala wanted to clarify that the industry is not in crisis and expressed concerns about workers being stereotyped.
"It's not where we've got some type of plague or industry trend where safety's at play ... We're doing everything in our literal arsenal to make sure workers are safe on the job site, including zero tolerance for impairment.
"But it is making us pay attention. We use this adage: 'We want you to go home at the end of the day.' This is about: 'We want you to come back the next day.' Because a lot of these deaths happen at night by themselves and often in their own home."
Botkin said that when you are in a culture where you're regularly having a beer after work, trying recreational drugs, or using drugs to cope with pain or stress, it can be hard to tell when you are entering into addiction.
"How often do your plans change the day after because of drug use? Are you able to live within your values? Are you showing up for your family, your loved ones? If those questions come back with tricky answers, it's time to start looking at things more seriously."
Botkin fell into a slippery slope even after he quit drinking at 25. At age 36, he described himself as a yes-man taking on every job he could, including complicated projects and problem clients. Subsequently, he turned to drugs to cope. "I didn't know how to say no. And I just started to crumble."
He encourages those struggling to reach out to just one person to talk to and to also check out Hammer Time, which is not abstinence-related.
"It's just a place where guys can come and download, connect, get feedback from other guys and just kind of blow off some steam in a healthy way."
Botkin also highlights the dangers of the current toxic supply, even for those not with an addiction. Even one time doing drugs recreationally can prove fatal.
"Everybody's been affected by this. Approaching it with a kind heart and an empathetic demeanor tends to bring people out of their shell and lets them walk away saying somebody cares."
For help, people can reach out to the Umbrella Society at 250-380-0595. Find out more at thetailgatetoolkit.ca.
