They are shunned when they seek medical care, when they try to find housing and when they look for employment.

Locals who use drugs and have stories to tell about living with that stigma in the Kootenays are the subjects of a multi-part video series from social outreach group ANKORS.

B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e very intimate,B次元官网网址� said ANKORS executive director Cheryl Dowden. B次元官网网址淚 feel like people were very authentic and they were also extremely vulnerable but resilient, as well, in what they had to say. I hope people connect to that.B次元官网网址�

Dowden said the series is funded by the provincial and was created to represent the priorities of the Nelson Fentanyl Task Force.

She hopes the videos help alleviate some of the issues faced by community members seeking help from services many take for granted.

B次元官网网址淚f the first thing that weB次元官网网址檙e doing is seeing somebodyB次元官网网址檚 addiction and defining them in that way, then weB次元官网网址檙e not even seeing the human being and weB次元官网网址檙e not connecting first person-to-person. WeB次元官网网址檙e connecting through the lens of stigma and we need to remove that.B次元官网网址�

The first two videos in the series can be seen below. The Star will update this page as more videos are released.