Keeping attention on prescription drug addiction

The third annual Raising Awareness Together golf tournament finds itself in a peculiar position – while public attention on the issue of prescription drug abuse has faded over the past year, the tournament’s organizers know the issue is, in many communities, worse than ever.
For Mike McKay of Bearskin Lake, one of the founding members of the tournament, the necessity of keeping the issue in the public’s mind makes this year’s tournament as important as ever before.
“The idea has always been to raise awareness about prescription drug addiction,” McKay said. “People kind of forget that this is still a major issue. Even myself, I thought it was kind of getting a little bit better, but in many communities I speak to they say its getting worse.”
All proceeds from the tournament, which is held at Whitewater Golf Club in Thunder Bay on June 28, go to support Dennis Franklin Cromarty high school’s suboxone program and aftercare.
The profits raised in last year’s tournament went towards providing iPads for the youth in the program to use to access nursing care once they completed the program, as well as for recreation activities for the youth such as bowling events and other sports activities.
Travis Boissoneau, a tournament organizer, said it is important to help youth who go through suboxone programs by providing aftercare in the form of recreation activities as well as health care.
“Anything to keep people who are in a suboxone program busy and educated goes a long way,” Boissoneau said.
But while the money raised is important, equally important is the effort to keep attention focused on prescription drug addictions in the communities and in Thunder Bay, both organizers said.
“More and more communities are acknowledging that prescription drug addiction is a problem,” McKay said. “More communities have their own treatment programs, and its good to see that. But that doesn’t mean the problem is getting better.”
Boissoneau said this year they are reaching out to the non-Aboriginal community in Thunder Bay for support. He noted it is important to involve the business and professional community in the city in efforts to help raise awareness and money to support efforts at combating prescription drug addiction, in DFC or elsewhere.
“We’re looking to invite people who aren’t normally at these type of golf tournaments,”
Boissoneau said. “The idea is to raise awareness, and we’re happy to participate in that with the rest of the community.”
For more information or to register for the tournament, email Mike McKay at mimckay@ifna.ca.