From User to Advocate

From a life as a drug dealer and user to a career as a social worker, Jordon MacLean has dedicated part of his life to advocating for drug users in the face of public opposition.

MacLean is a large presence, both in personality and in size. When he speaks, he speaks from experience and from his heart. A graduate of Algonquin College’s social service worker program, he is one of the organisers of a grassroots community advocacy group known as Campaign for Safer Consumption Sites in Ottawa. As their name indicates, they are a group advocating for a safe injection site in Ottawa. 

Safe injection sites are a form of harm reduction that provides drug users with sterile equipment and a monitored environment to inject drugs. Their main goal is to decrease the number of transmitted diseases and overdose deaths caused by injection drug use. They also exist as a first point of contact for counselling and other services to treat their addiction. The only such site in North America is Vancouver’s Insite clinic.

While safe injection sites are meant for the benefit of the public there is resistance to them. MacLean uses his experiences as a drug user and his ability to communicate effectively to advance the discussion about these sites within the community. Displaying that drug users can turn their life around and give back to society.

 A Little Bit of Background

Loneliness was a theme in MacLean’s life. As the only child of a single mother he often was alone, or at the very least felt that way. Growing up without a father, he also searched for a male role model.

MacLean began using drugs around grade 8 or 9. A time of experimentation for many young teenagers, he felt like he had found a good friend in drugs, describing them as a “warm blanket on a cold day.”

He moved to Vancouver later where he got to see his Dad at the end of his life, who was an alcoholic and a drug user. MacLean moved to Vancouver with the dream of becoming a movie star after being in a few shows as an extra.

“I got to see my Dad at the end of his life, he was in bad place,” said MacLean. “Maybe that is why he didn’t want to be around me.”

MacLean, while out in Vancouver, was selling large amounts of drugs and also using them. He said that he didn’t give much thought to his behaviour.

“I thought I wouldn’t make it to 40 so I didn’t care who I was dealing with,” MacLean said. “I didn’t care about getting caught because of that.”

There were times when things looked bleak. As someone involved in the drug trade there were times that he was almost killed. There were also times when things were so dreary that he contemplated suicide, “it wasn’t who I was born to be,” MacLean said. “So I just wanted to not be here.”

Getting Help and an Education

It was Dec. 5, 2007 when MacLean entered rehab and that was the last time that he used a drug. He finished smoking a joint right before he walked into the Meadow Creek treatment centre on Carling Avenue in Ottawa. Blowing out the last puff of smoke right before walking in the door.

Inside the facility he detoxed for about a week and spent 30 days in their residential treatment program. Group meetings were a big part of the experience, which he described as very therapeutic.

“At first you don’t want to say anything,” MacLean said about the meetings. “But it feels really good to get what you are feeling off your chest.”

After getting out of treatment MacLean committed himself to returning to school. He had never been a great student, unable to concentrate and eventually dropping out of high school.

He applied for the second career program and then enrolled in social service worker at Algonquin College.

During his time at Algonquin, MacLean got involved with CSCS and organised a rally on Parliament Hill as part of an assignment for a college class. A rally which got coverage in the media and community awareness to the issue of safe injection.

Taking What Was Learned and Applying It

In addition to having a career at a group home for teenagers and young adults with autism, MacLean also contributes time and energy to CSCS and also the Drug Users Advocacy League.

Catherine Hacksel, who works with MacLean describes him as having a huge heart and possessing a tremendous amount of energy. With his responsibilities outside of advocacy he still finds the time to consistently attend meetings and stays involved. He does not use his busy life as an excuse.

Hacksel first met MacLean when he was in the social service worker program and wanted to get involved with advocacy. His college class from social service worker program organised a rally advocating for safe injection sites that took place March 23, 2014 on Parliament Hill.

“The group from his class organised the event,” Hacksel said. “He was a big part of getting people out to the event.”

An event in which “100 or so people and a lot of media” showed up to take part and document. A rally that sought to promote the awareness of Ottawa’s need for a safe injection site.

MacLean also canvasses door to door throughout Ottawa to engage people about safe injection directly where they live. He said that the response he receives is very positive. He says that while he meets some resistance, many people change their mind when they are presented the facts.

The Other Side of the Coin

Safe injection sites are not without their detractors. The mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson, contends that they are not the right approach for Ottawa. He believes that instead of investing in safe injection sites the city should focus on an abstinence based approach.

“I believe with the scarce resources that we have we should focus on treatment,” said Watson. “Based on conversations with our police chief and Vancouver’s I don’t think it is the best approach.”

Critics point to the fact that drugs are illegal. The one safe injection site that exists in all of North America – Vancouver’s Insite – exists under a federal criminal code exemption. For a site to open in Ottawa it would require getting an exemption from the government to allow drugs to be legally used on the premises.

Words Have Weight

As a former drug user MacLean doesn’t like to describe himself as an “addict” and also doesn’t refer to himself as “clean.”

“I don’t like to use addicted, or clean or better,” said MacLean. “At first I used to say I’m clean, right? But I never use that anymore because that means I was dirty before.”

Words have imagery behind them. Words shape the very perception we have of people. They create an image in the mind’s eye. The word dirty carries behind it an extremely negative connotation.

He believes that this inequality is unacceptable. Just because people are addicted to drugs should not mean that they do not have the same access to care.

“Everyone deserves to be heard and have respect,” said Maclean. ““If society doesn’t care about these people then why are they ever going to want to change and make the community a better place?”

The Professional Opinion

There are other influential people within the community lobbying for the opening of a safe injection site. One of those people is Jeff Morrison, former president of the board of the Centretown Community Health Centre. Morrison also ran for city council in Somerset ward during the 2014 Ottawa municipal election. An election in which he finished second to Catherine McKenney’s 4,000 votes.

He understands the resistance to opening such a site, but also stresses the importance of the sites when it comes to public safety.

“Most people in the community understand the health benefits of a safe injection site,” said Morrison. “They also understand a safe injection site would reduce the number of discarded needles in public places, and would provide drug users with a contact to the health system.”

He believes that politicans may fear the “not in my backyard” reaction from the public. They also fear that they will be seen as encouraging drug use.

Where Do We Go From Here

Like any social change, minds are slow to change. Public opinion has slowly been changing over the years on safe injection sites. There has been increased coverage in the Ottawa media because of multiple academic studies conducted stating Ottawa is in need of at least one, if not more, of these clinics.

There are already locations willing to host a safe injection site. The Sandy Hill Health Centre has already put together a petition to be the location of such a site. The largest opposition they face is the opposition at city hall and on Parliament Hill, but that is also changing.

“There is so much more support and there [are] so many politicians that are now for it,” said MacLean. “When before it was very hush-hush, you couldn’t even say you supported it.”

MacLean acknowledges that both sides have their point of view and they respectfully disagree on the subject. He believes that the facts are on his side. That no matter what opposition he faces, he will stand up for the rights that he believes drug users deserve.

“40 people died last year of overdose and 10 people got HIV in Ottawa,” MacLean said. “It could be your brother, it could be your sister, it could be your mother.”