Recovering addict marks international overdose awareness day

Hanover, Ont. -

Sasha Beattie and her mom gaze out on 16 crosses planted on their front lawn in Hanover, Ont., knowing full well, Sasha could have had her name on one of them.

“I was one of these people. I could have ended up in this situation. I could have died,” says Sasha.

For 13 years, Sasha Beattie was a drug addict. She’s been clean for the past four years, but she remembers the despair, shame and fear, of being hooked on drugs. Fortunately, she made it out, but 16 of her friends, three in the past month, did not. Their names now mark crosses on her family’s front lawn.

“They don’t teach you in counselling, about how to deal with the loss of friends when you start recovery. It’s hard. You feel helpless,” she says.

Beattie’s mother, Jane Plant, remembers the sleepless nights, and “13 year nightmare” her daughter put her through. That’s why she, along with her daughter, are now working towards ending the stigma, shame and labels that come with drug use.

“They’re a junkie. They don’t need to exist. Criminals. The stigma goes on and on. These people, are people. They are someone’s children. Someone’s family member and friend,” says Plant.

The crosses are meant to start a conversation, both Plant and Beattie, hope to continue tomorrow on International Overdose Awareness Day. They’re hosting an overdose information event at Hope Community Church in Hanover from 6:30 to 9pm, Tuesday night.

“If I can help one person. One person’s family who is struggling with active addiction, or one person’s family who is grieving, then that’s my cause. If I can change one person’s mind for one hour, or one day, that matters to me,” says Beattie, who is now a mother herself.

August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day.