Yes, most definitely.
I mean, obviously, dead people don't recover. You also have a lot of people who use substances who don't struggle with an addiction. With the risk of the contaminated drug supply that's on our streets today, first-time substance users, intermittent substance users, casual substance users and people who struggle with addiction—people from all walks of life who use substances—are at severe risk of death.
The unfortunate part is that it's like we wait for people to have this addiction before we actually help them. Treatment and recovery won't help people who just use these substances. Harm reduction services will, and a lot of them build the connections and services to build out other health care services.
Look at the 20-year impact of Insite in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, which has referred 71,000 people to offsite services. Many of those could be detox, treatment, recovery, health or hospitalization. Harm reduction is really a big connection piece, similar to what Dr. Goulão was speaking to, to build support, build the trust, build the non-judgmental, compassionate relationship that's needed when somebody does make the leap. If you look at Insite, on the second floor, it has a detox floor. On the third floor, it has a transition floor.
I will say this. It wasn't recovery services that came to the Downtown Eastside to get me out of there. It was harm reduction services that were giving me bus tickets and cab fares to treatment facilities, and every time I left treatment—because it's a chronic relapsing condition—harm reduction welcomed me back. I wouldn't be alive today without it, so I'm a fierce advocate for understanding that we need a full pathway, a full continuum of care in this country that supports both harm reduction and recovery. Gone are the days where it's either-or. It has to be both. This drug supply is killing people.
Again, as I said, not everybody who uses substances struggles with an addiction.