39 www.rnca.ca Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Association Mother of 3 among fentanyl-related deaths in St. John's area Originally published on May 9, 2017 by Ariana Kelland, CBC News One day inApril 2017, a Newfoundland mom of three boys overdosed and survived. The next week, she injected heroin, and wasn't so lucky. Niki Chapman, 39, died — the second person on the northeast Avalon known to have fatally overdosed on fentanyl. Chapman puts a human face on the tragic consequences of a deadly painkiller that's reached Canada's most easterly province. “I was mad.Very mad. As a parent, you can't do anything about that type of thing,” her father, Jim Chapman, told CBC News on Monday. “I had a hint that she had an addiction problem and drugs and pills. It started with painkillers and stuff, and just got worse and worse … It just crushed us.” Daughter used drugs to zone out Jim Chapman spoke by phone while travelling from Newfoundland to Alberta, where he lives. He came to the province to attend his daughter's funeral. He said Niki Chapman “just didn't know how to deal” with family and relationship issues, and had been struggling with drugs. Drugs, he said, were "her way of zoning out to try and kill the emotional pain that was going on in her life.” Jim Chapman's son called him at 5 a.m. on April 26, while he was getting ready to work, and told him the bad news. “That crushed us. Being so far away.” Police confirmed later that day that a 39-year-old woman died of a fentanyl-related overdose. She was found unresponsive in a home on EmpireAvenue. In speaking with police officers, Chapman said it seems as though there's no way to stop the deadly grip of fentanyl.“They can't stop it. And it's coming. It's coming to Newfoundland now and these poor people … these poor people that need help with addiction problems, a lot of them are going to die.” He said he doesn't know where his daughter got the drugs, but that she went to St. John's from her home in Holyrood days earlier to be with friends. “A lot of these people are sharing needles, passing it on,” he explained. “It's hard to track who the person is bringing it. Police know who's bringing it but I don't think they have the resources or help to stop it.” Niki Chapman left behind three boys under the age of 11. Their grandfather says they're doing OK, but don't fully understand what's happening. His advice for others in his situation is to never give up on their loved ones, to stay with them and provide support. “When you're sticking that needle in your arm or you're snorting it up your nose, just think, it might be your last time.” Mothers band together for harm reduction Originally published on on January 16, 2018 by Lindsay Jones,The Globe and Mail Fentanyl is devastating families across the country, leading some of those affected, likeTina Kavanagh, to take matters into their own hands Tina Kavanagh poses in front of the RV she purchased to turn into a mobile needle exchange program inWabana on Bell Island, Nfld. (Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail) When Tina Kavanagh's son David got out of rehab in September 2017, she got a knot in her stomach. "I was really worried knowing he was out because fentanyl was introduced to Cambridge [Ont.] six months prior to him getting out of rehab," she said. She suppressed the urge to warn her 24-year-old about the potentially lethal opioid and instead listened to his cheerful chatter about the future. "He was on cloud nine," said Ms. Kavanagh, who grew up on Newfoundland's Bell Island but now lives in Mississauga. "It was almost too good to be true when I look back on it. He said, 'Mom, when are we going to go to Newfoundland for a trip, for a holiday? I'm back to work, Mom. I've still got my job!" David never made it back to Newfoundland. On Oct. 12, 2017 two weeks after he left a halfway house in Kitchener, Ms. Kavanagh got the call. David had received his first paycheque – from a job mixing chemicals to make vinyl – and was living with his cousin in Cambridge.At 6:15 in the morning, his cousin's wife went to wake him for work and found his lifeless body on the floor, a syringe in his hand. Ms. Kavanagh believes David injected heroin laced with fentanyl, a prescription painkiller 100 times more potent than morphine. FENTANYL IN THE NEWS continued Niki Chapman, 39, died of an overdose April 26, 2017. Tina Kavanagh poses in front of the RV she purchased to turn into a mobile needle exchange program in Wabana on Bell Island, Nfld. (Darren Calabrese/ The Globe and Mail)
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