Cross-country trek to stop painkiller abuse
Chris Cull is on his second bike ride to raise awareness about addiction to opioids
Chris Cull lost his father at 22. By age 23, the Bowmansville native was addicted to opioid painkillers — an abusive habit that would eventually cost him his father’s house, his relationship with his girlfriend, and his job.
Fast-forward to today: Cull, 31, is halfway through his second bike ride across Canada to raise awareness about opioid addiction. Now clean, Cull says he gave everything to be here, but doesn’t regret a thing. “I sold my home — my second home, smaller than my dad’s place — and decided: I’m going to do this on my own terms,” he said, noting how his decision to hop on his bicycle in 2014 and travel from coast to coast helped stave off the urge to use drugs again.
“It’s hard, for a lot of people at least, to talk about the worst part of their entire life. I know it was for me. This lets me bridge that gap.”
Cull’s most recent ride — which saw him stop at Union Station on Tuesday to talk about the opioid crisis in Canada — has not been easy. Just recently, he wiped out and broke his wrist. Regardless, he’s continuing the ride, his hand now in a cast. His perseverance comes from knowing that the physical toll is just one part of the journey.
The second part, Cull says, is the drive he has to confront the deadly reality of opioids head-on — because, while he survived addiction, some people close to him weren’t as lucky.
“I personally know about five or six friends who died from (overdosing) on fentanyl,” he said. “That’s before it was even talked about. It’s been around for a while — it’s just an offshoot of the overall issue.”
In Canada, opioid overdose has been on the rise over the past decade, with drugs such as fentanyl and the now-banned pharmaceutical OxyContin becoming flashpoints, leading to a steep increase in deaths.
Earlier this year, fentanyl was identified as the number one cause of opioid-related deaths in Ontario, and it has led to hundreds of deaths in provinces such as Alberta and British Columbia since it began appearing in an illegal pill form earlier this decade.
Activists and outreach workers have criticized the provincial and federal governments for not doing enough to curb such deaths.
In particular, experts say making the overdose antidote naloxone more available and expanding safe injection sites could prevent deaths.
This time around, Cull’s ride is sponsored by ORbeOK — an online community that connects opioid users with resources and tools to help them overcome their addiction and seek help to stay sober.
It should be noted that the company that created ORbeOK, Indivior, is a pharmaceutical company that is mainly responsible for the introduction of Suboxone, a replacement opioid often prescribed to help stave off cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
According to Health Canada, Suboxone does not provide the high associated with commonly abused substances such as OxyContin or heroin, but rather acts as an equalizer for those seeking a craving fix. It is one of the few drugs approved for treatment of opioid addiction in Canada.
It’s initiatives like these, Cull says, that he wishes he’d had better access to when he was trying to kick his addition. His hope is that his ride across Canada will not only inspire more people to reach out and open up about addiction, but more importantly, save a life or two.
“I knew (somebody) who got prescribed Percocet for a fractured finger. A year later, she was fully hooked,” Cull said.
“The only option after that is to get clean, or eventually die. There is hope out there.”