{"id":91440,"date":"2025-04-18T13:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T17:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=91440"},"modified":"2025-04-18T13:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T17:08:16","slug":"harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/18\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\/","title":{"rendered":"Harm Reduction Credited for Reducing Indigenous Fatalities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Michelle Gamage, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee Toxic drug deaths for First Nations peoples decreased by 6.8 per cent in British Columbia between 2023 and 2024. This \u201cshows us what we are doing, particularly in the area of harm reduction, is helping,\u201d said Dr. Nel Wieman, chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority. Harm reduction for First Nations communities means \u201cgetting to the root wounds that make people turn to substances to cope and really undoing those harms of colonialism,\u201d added Celeta Cook, executive director for FNHA public health response. While the decrease in fatalities offers some relief, data shows First Nations peoples are still being disproportionately impacted by the toxic drug supply, Wieman said. She spoke to the media on Monday, marking the ninth anniversary&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F04%2F18%2Fharm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Michelle Gamage, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee Toxic drug deaths for First Nations peoples decreased by 6.8 per cent in British Columbia between 2023 and 2024. This \u201cshows us what we are doing, particularly in the area of harm reduction, is helping,\u201d said Dr. Nel Wieman, chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority. Harm reduction for First Nations communities means \u201cgetting to the root wounds that make people turn to substances to cope and really undoing those harms of colonialism,\u201d added Celeta Cook, executive director for FNHA public health response. While the decrease in fatalities offers some relief, data shows First Nations peoples are still being disproportionately impacted by the toxic drug supply, Wieman said. She spoke to the media on Monday, marking the ninth anniversary... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F04%2F18%2Fharm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Harm Reduction Credited for Reducing Indigenous Fatalities - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/18\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harm Reduction Credited for Reducing Indigenous Fatalities - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Michelle Gamage, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee Toxic drug deaths for First Nations peoples decreased by 6.8 per cent in British Columbia between 2023 and 2024. This \u201cshows us what we are doing, particularly in the area of harm reduction, is helping,\u201d said Dr. Nel Wieman, chief medical officer of the First Nations Health Authority. Harm reduction for First Nations communities means \u201cgetting to the root wounds that make people turn to substances to cope and really undoing those harms of colonialism,\u201d added Celeta Cook, executive director for FNHA public health response. While the decrease in fatalities offers some relief, data shows First Nations peoples are still being disproportionately impacted by the toxic drug supply, Wieman said. She spoke to the media on Monday, marking the ninth anniversary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/18\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-18T17:08:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/18\\\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/18\\\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Harm Reduction Credited for Reducing Indigenous Fatalities\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-18T17:08:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/18\\\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1077,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/18\\\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/18\\\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/18\\\/harm-reduction-credited-for-reducing-indigenous-fatalities\\\/\",\"name\":\"Harm Reduction Credited for Reducing Indigenous Fatalities - 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