Addicts should be met where they are: U of L nursing grad
By Lethbridge Herald on June 4, 2025.
Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A recent University of Lethbridge graduate spent many hours volunteering with organizations who care for the unhoused and spent her final practicum with ARCHES, which has given her a first-hand look at how harm reduction works.
Ladan Yousef graduated from the nursing program from the university. During her practicum with ARCHES, she organized a harm reduction booth as part of a film screening project for Kimmapiiyipitsini- The Meaning of Empathy. The documentary was created by Elle-Maija Tailfeathers about her mother Esther Tailfeathers’ experience fighting the opioid crisis as a physician.
Yousef says her biggest takeaway from the film project is the important of realizing addiction isn’t a choice and shouldn’t be treated as such.
“Addiction isn’t a choice, it’s a mental condition and should be treated like it,” says Yousef. “We don’t judge people with diabetes if they get a Slurpee one day, so why should we do the same with people that struggle with addiction.”
In order to combat addiction, Yousef believes there needs to be more compassion and understanding of the origin of addiction.
“I think just taking a step back and understanding the historical aspect to it (and) and the trauma aspect.”
Working as a nurse, Yousef understands the importance of trauma-informed care, not just for her Indigenous patients but for everyone in her care.
While Yousef wasn’t here when the supervised consumption site was closed, she believes they are important and the work ARCHES does to help reduse overdoses is crucial.
“At the end of the day of the day, it is a human life being lost and knowing there’s a safe place they can use and when they’re ready there’s wraparound services, they can connect with…I think it is so important.
She adds that it’s important governments create legislation that is fact based, not fear based and look at how other countries handle drug crisis. She also believes it’s important to meet individuals where they are at and build trust will be more beneficial than forcing them into recovery.
Yousef says she hopes to one day live in a world where there is no stigma or hate towards unhoused people.
During the University of Lethbridge Spring Convocation, Yousef was awarded with the University of Lethbridge Volunteer Award.
She hopes to continue working with nonprofit groups such as ARCHES, but also has a goal to get into medical school, with a focus in addiction to better serve the unhoused population.
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I’m not convinced that addiction isn’t a choice but a mental condition. Maybe it is a mental condition in some cases. I was addicted to alcohol and cigarettes for over 50 years and made a choice to start both then made a choice to quit both. I wasn’t treated for a mental condition and I’m unaware of any mental condition that was cause for my addictions. Sometimes we have to take responsibility for our actions instead of looking for someone or something to blame.
so, took you 50 years – congrats on making the change. you came see a better way for you, and most important, you found the will and strength.
as one should know, however, one’s own ability and entangled challenges are not the same as those of many others. thus, it is impossible to generalise as to why and how there are those that have addictions and are able to overcome, while others stay stuck.
responsibility for one’s actions is a necessary aspect for all people. blaming this or that would seem to only be the basis for staying with poor choices.
I wish you well in your career and congratulations for graduating!
As you grow in your knowledge you will see that harm reduction is and has been a complete failure and look no further than next door in BC which has attempted to make these policies work since 2003 when they opened the first safe injection site in North America! From there it all went downhill and today they are so far down the rabbit hole they long ago went by Alice in Wonderland!
They are now the biggest drug dealer in Canada giving free opioids to addicts under the safe drug supply . . . all one has to do is go through a 2 step interview which is easy and basic and you can get your drugs prescribed, free if you are 10 years old even, you can get these drugs and they will not tell the parents, because they will not share that with them.
Prescribed opioids are what got many addicts addicted when they were injured or had surgery . . . so how is it good to hand them out to anyone?
Safe supply drugs still kill people!
As someone was around when the SCS was here, did surmountable research on harm reduction, SCS’s, treatment and recovery programs starting in 2016 when we tried to stop the Lethbridge SCS, I can tell you harm reduction policies only pour gasoline on the fire, increasing the problem.
I calculated and compared statistics from the 4 western provinces 2 years ago and the more SCS’s there were, the higher per capita fatal overdoses.
Population of: Fatal OD’s 2022 Per Capita
Saskatchewan 1,214,618 450 3.7
Manitoba 1.36 million 450 3.3
Alberta 4.6 million 1630 3.5
BC 5,399,118 2272 4.2
SK had one SCS not government funded.
MB had no SCS!
AB had 7 and BC had over 50 sites for supervised consumption!
These sites do nothing to get people into treatment and even BC states they wait until someone decides they are ready, but do not counsel people at the sites to get treatment.
These sites enable and encourage people to consume drugs!
I fought to prevent the Lethbridge SCS from opening because I had already witnessed the devastation, the death in the alleys and streets on East Hastings in the Vancouver DTES region and didn’t want that coming to our city!
I fought to shut it down and the illegal LOPS tent setting in parks around Lethbridge, after the SCS was shut down! I fought for better treatment programs that were effective and spoke with people in the US who ran award winning programs there!
After the SCS opened, there numbers of addicts on our streets increased exponentially and open drug use was everywhere! More people were dying after they opened! More people were getting addicted after they opened! And crime increased almost 6,000% in the area of the SCS, as LPS reported to City Council!
Harm reduction kills people! Alberta has already proven the treatment recovery model works and shows the BC harm reduction model is a failed experiment!
Last year Alberta saw fatal overdoses drop province wide over 40% and Lethbridge saw a drop of over 60% because of the new direction the Alberta government has taken focusing on treatment and recovery, instead of harm reduction!
BC says they had a 12% decrease in fatal overdoses but they do not count fatal overdoses from their ‘safe supply’ drugs they hand out, only the illegal toxic drugs on the streets. I think it is terrible when people are dying and you try to manipulate stats so it doesn’t look like policies are failing, if that is the reason they do not include safe supply fatal overdoses, when they report fatal overdoses!
There is tangible evidence what policies work and what fail and you will see even more lives saved and less families destroyed as more of Alberta’s model is implemented and is fully operational!
It is undeniable! Many non-profits who are focused on pushing their harm reduction models are seeing funding shortages and rather than acknowledge that there are better ways that work in saving lives, they push harder for harm reduction and attack the Alberta treatment recovery model without having any tangible evidence otherwise!
Lastly, everyone thinks non-profits are all volunteers and no one gets paid!
Wrong . . . many of the non-profits administrators get high pay or at the least middle class pay, and their expenses, vehicles, etc. paid for from that organization . . . we exposed the high pay of the executive director of the SCS a few years ago with Stacey Bourque making over $300,000 in the last year of the SCS when all her submitted overtime was included.
That information was from the federal government!
Many cannot find jobs that pay that high, so in my mind they forget why they are there and go into survival mode for themselves . . . or they are brainwashed so badly, that they just cannot accept the truth, the evidence put before them that harm reduction doesn’t work!
People die when we get it wrong! Families are destroyed!
Alberta is on the right track and by far the treatment recovery model is the best hope for addicts!
I wish you well in your endeavor and hope you realize the truth! We need exceptional healthcare workers in the addictions treatment and recovery factilities and I do hope you consider this as path. The opportunities are there for you!
As a person with diabetes, I have to say this so-called expert has lost all credibility due to her ridiculous & ignorant comment about diabetes.