‘It’s just unfair that my son had to die’

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This article was published 28/04/2023 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Joseph Fourre says he owes it to his son to tell people about how kind and loving he was.

Harlan Fourre died at 2:29 p.m. Friday after being taking off life-support; the 31-year-old had overdosed while he was with friends in The Pas last weekend.

“He was a generous young man who had a zest and love for life,” Fourre said, adding his son’s last act was to be a candidate for organ donation.

It was important for Harlan’s family to speak publicly about his death after being so open in his last days, his father said. Fourre, an addictions worker, said he doesn’t want to see another family deal with tragedy.

Harlan was put on life-support early this week after ingesting a party drug laced with an opioid and going into cardiac arrest.

The laced drugs — possibly ecstasy — caused six overdoses in The Pas last Saturday. The other five people were treated and released. RCMP have said the drugs may have been laced with fentanyl.

Fourre said families need to have frank discussions about recreational drug use and the dangers of laced drugs, particularly with graduation season coming up.

“We have a murderer out there called fentanyl, and it’s in everything. It’s just unfair that my son had to die for wanting to have a good time, wanting to have fun and enjoy some company with his buddies. I’m not condoning drug use. He made a choice, and it cost him his life. I don’t want that for any other child. I don’t want any other parent to have to feel what I had to feel today, you know, to watch my son die.”

He said drugs were not a regular part of Harlan’s life. He had travelled to The Pas from Winnipeg last weekend to help his sister.

“That’s Harlan,” Fourre said.

“I owe it to my son so that the world would know who he was. Because sometimes when we use the word ‘overdose,’ it strikes up all kinds of images, and he was not that.”

Preliminary statistics from the chief medical examiner’s office, which were provided to the advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm, show there were 418 drug-related overdose deaths in 2022. In 2021, 424 deaths were confirmed.

Last year’s numbers amount to more than one overdose death a day. Far too many for a province this size, Fourre said.

“We as a community have to pressure the powers that be to make some concrete changes in the way that we look at this crisis in our community right now,” he said, calling for more “aggressive” measures and affordable treatment programs to respond to the crisis.

“I think we need a universal treatment program that’s available to all Manitobans (regardless) of their stature in life,” Fourre said.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com