A father explains why he is at war with fentanyl.
“Fentanyl changed everything,” says Joseph. “I’ve been on one extreme to the other—from being addicted to heroin for part of my life, and to losing my son Harlan to a fentanyl poisoning.”
Joseph describes Harlan as an extremely warm and generous man—the kind who would drive a thousand kilometers across three provinces to help his dad make a recovery appointment. The kind who covered the costs of his friends’ travel so they could get to a funeral. And the kind who, when offered any sort of substance, would always say, “No thanks, I’m good.”
“He knew what hard drugs did,” says Joseph. “Because of the life his parents lived and the childhood he survived.”
But one night at a bar after work, Harlan made a bad choice that any of us could have made. Someone offered him what was supposed to be a little ecstasy. They all did a small bump in the bathroom. But the substance turned out to be poisoned with fentanyl—and it cost Harlan his life.
Amid Joseph’s anger and pain following Harlan’s death, something else shocked him. As condolences to the family poured in, people would say, “I didn’t know Harlan had a drug problem.” The stigmatizing assumption that a drug dependency was the cause—versus the reality of making one bad choice—motivated Joseph into action.
“It took a long time to really change how people and the media understood my son’s cause of death; Harlan died from an accidental fentanyl poisoning, he was not an addict’” says Joseph. “All the governments, all the media, all their strategies are geared towards addiction. Nobody is talking about social drug use—the drugs are not safe, they’re not the same as they were 20 years ago. Fentanyl has changed everything.”
Today, Joseph leads the Singing Red Bear Foundation he started in honour of his son. As part of that effort, he created an awareness campaign centered around Harlan’s words, “No Thanks, I’m Good.” The goal is to equip youth with this phrase to opt out of social drug usage. It is both polite and empowering. It’s an approachable, simple way to refuse hard drugs. Joseph tours around the Prairies, telling Harlan’s story and helping educate communities on the serious dangers of the fentanyl-tainted drug supply. He’s already shared his message with over 6,000 students and he aims to expand his efforts nationally.
Data tells us that fentanyl is rising as a cause of death among adolescents,” says Joseph. “And a lot of those kids aren’t addicts. I take solace in creating a legacy for Harlan—not to be remembered as a drug addict, but to be remembered as a kid who just made one bad choice.