Rallying to raise awareness of the suffering caused by drug and alcohol abuse

Members of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation are rallying to raise awareness of the effects of drugs and alcohol.

According to one of the organizers, the idea for the rally came from personal experience.

“My son is struggling right now and my granddaughter always asks for him, for her dad, and it’s heartbreaking because she needs him,” said Jessica Alexis Potts. “I need to do something, I don’t want to just sit there and watch him deteriorate and I’d rather try to save him then watch him go six feet under.”

“I think in the last two years we had a high death rate and it was not due to COVID, most of it I’d say was alcohol and drug related.”

For the rally, a tipi was set up at the first nation’s north entrance, an elder came to pray and a unity fire, representing strength, was lit.

“Hopefully bring some awareness to what it’s doing to our community to our kids,” said Potts. “Especially the kids who are suffering because they’re losing their parents to alcohol and drugs.”

According to Potts, others in the Firth Nation are fighting similar battles, calling the situation an “epidemic within a pandemic.”

“No one ever plans that, ‘I want to live an addictive lifestyle.’ Nobody ever plans for that and we know they need that help,” said Tony Alexis, chief of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation.

“Our hope in gathering like this is that they would take that time away from it (addictions) and know that there is hope and there is people that love and care about them.”

People from other communities were invited to come and sit by the fire and show support for people suffering through addiction.

Organizers are hoping that by raising awareness, more resources to support the community can be brought in.

“So any way that we can provide that support before something tragic happens, I think that’s better,” said Alexis. “Instead of waiting for reaction we need to be proactive.”

Potts believes a treatment centre in the community to provide medical detox would be helpful because “just detox is not enough.” She said the closest place for her son to get medical detox is in Edmonton.

“A long term care facility to help them after care once they go to treatment, because I think after 28 days a person’s barely thinking clearly,” said Potts.

The event will last 24 hours, organizers plan to do this once a month for the rest of the year.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jessica Robb