- Welcome to Independent Lens.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Drug addiction and overdoses are worldwide problems.
Whether you're in a big city or a small town
and regardless of socioeconomic background,
many of us don't have to look far
to see people who have struggled or struggle with addiction.
Tonight's film, Love in the Time of Fentanyl,
takes us to Vancouver, British Columbia.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiod,
similar to morphine,
but can be up to a hundred times more potent,
and it is the most common drug
involved in overdose deaths in North America.
In Vancouver, it's said that most of the illegal opioids
that come into the city are laced with fentanyl,
causing a real crisis.
In tonight's film, you'll see
how an eclectic group of concerned citizens
is tackling the problem head-on
by operating a safe injection site for users
in a neighborhood where drug overdoses have been rampant.
The organization is called Overdose Prevention Society.
The film follows this group of everyday folks,
including an activist who started OPS
without any government consent,
a graffiti artist and former user,
a frontline worker in the war on overdoses,
a beloved Indigenous woman who cooks meals for the workers,
and an active fentanyl addict
who still manages to find time to help others
while struggling with his own demons.
Director Colin Askey is a resident
of the downtown eastside area of Vancouver
and says the neighborhood has helped shape who he is.
A few years ago, he started documenting
everything he witnessed firsthand.
It was during this time
Askey discovered the Overdose Prevention Society
and become fascinated with the renegade tactics this group used
and the safe drug consumption space it provided
for residents despite systemic oppression.
Askey's goal in making his documentary
was to counter what he calls the dehumanizing stereotypes
so often attributed to drug addicts
and paint the frontline workers of OPS as the heroes
he believes they are.
Love in the Time of Fentanyl starts now on PBS Wisconsin,
your home for independent film.