Mike Haertel sits outside his residence at Glenfair Seniors Housing in Kamloops.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

After decades of being addicted to crack cocaine, Mike Haertel is sober and living independently at a residential housing building in Kamloops operated by BC Housing.

The complex on Glenfair Drive is welcoming with trees and gardens and residents chatting on their porches.

“I know where I used to be, how broken and sick I was, I was so defeated by drug abuse and never dreamed I’d get here,” Haertel said.

iNFOnews.ca first interviewed Haertel two years ago when he was living in supportive housing and working on his recovery.

“There was a time in my life, before I got into supportive housing when I was heavy into addiction and I’d hear a little voice say, just give yourself a chance, you’ll have a better life,” he said.

Haertel said it was the tough love approach he received from his dad, recovery programs he attended that required sobriety and support at Narcotics Anonymous that pushed him down the difficult road of recovery, and ultimately a healthier, happier life.

It has been over a decade since the province declared a state of emergency in response to unregulated drug overdoses, with thousands of users continuing to die every year in BC, according to recent statistics from the BC Coroners Service.

Haertel said while his opinion might not be a popular one, forced treatment, removing harm reduction and maintaining dry supportive housing is necessary for saving lives.

“The addiction crisis is getting so bad that it’s never going to stop until we stop it,” he said. "All the money the government is giving to these people is going to drugs and keeping them addicted, where that money could go toward treatment centres."

Since BC NDP leader David Eby announced an expansion to BC’s involuntary mental health care system last fall, experts have raised concerns, saying forced treatment is ineffective in the long-term and an infringement on human rights. There was no budget line for the expansion in the latest provincial budget.

“You have to respect human rights but when it comes to coddling people and making it easier, you’re letting them stay addicted and live that lifestyle," Haertel said. "What we're doing isn't working, we’re talking about saving lives.”

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More than 15,000 lives have been lost to the toxic drug crisis in BC since the emergency was declared in 2016, and since then harm reduction strategies have been put in place, where drug users can access a safe supply. 

“I think harm reduction is wrong and I think the numbers are showing that,” Haertel said. “Giving people safe supply, giving them paraphernalia, letting them use in open air with no accountability is not helping and you can see that.”

Haertel grew up in Kamloops and graduated from the culinary program and Thompson Rivers University before moving to Vancouver to work in the restaurant industry where his recreational drug use turned to a full-blown addiction to crack cocaine while he was living with his senior parents.

“My dad’s strategy was to let me self destruct. It was a toxic time and I hated my dad for years for the way he handled it but I have to give him credit, his strategy worked," he said. "The bottom line is it was up to me to get clean and I had to take full responsibility for the bad stuff that happened because of my drug addiction.”

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Roughly a decade ago, he returned to his hometown to deal with his addiction, but got kicked out of the friend’s homes he stayed at because of drug use. He said he was terrified of being homeless and never knew where he’d stay the next night.

“I came to the point I’d had enough, I’d lived on cocaine and Red Bull for many years,” he said. “I said ‘that’s it, you’re pushing 50, you either get your life together or end up in a gutter'"

He got a bed at the men’s recovery centre at The Mustard Seed where he lived for 2.5 years before securing supportive housing on the city's North Shore.

“When I was living upstairs at The Mustard Seed, they had the shelter downstairs and for the longest time there were drug deals everywhere... and they were still allowed to stay the night," Haertel said. “Now they took out the day room, put in beds and there is no using allowed, and it’s a lot better environment."

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He relapsed a couple of times but continued going to Narcotics Anonymous and attended Interior Health outpatient programs.

“Interior Health said if you don’t stay clean, we’re just going to kick you out and you’re on your own,” Haertel said. “It really helped me, they were strict, it was tough love and it worked.”

Last year, he volunteered at a local shelter for several months, getting to know people living on the streets and shared his lived experience with them. He said while there's a shortage of supported housing in the city, the issue isn’t that simple.

“I know a lot of people (on the street) don’t want housing,” he said. “They’d rather keep the money to buy fentanyl or dope. When people say there’s a lack of supportive housing, there is, but there’s a lot of people on the street that don’t want it. They want food and clothes and to be left alone.”

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Some supportive housing allows drug use while others don’t, it depends on the rules laid out by the organization running the facility.

“If you have supportive housing that is dry, that person has to take responsibility and respect the place they’re staying at,” Haertel said. “It would go a long way to helping people get into treatment. I don’t want to see people homeless, but what’s the other option?”

Haertel moved into his current apartment in late 2023. His feet are injured so he is on disability. Thirty per cent of his cheque goes to pay his rent with the rest supplemented by the province.

“I have to scrimp a little and budget, but I have my own freedom,” he said. “I told myself if I go back to my old lifestyle, I’m going to blow it. My getting this place and having full responsibility for my life has aided in my recovery.” 

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Haertel is currently looking at peer counselling jobs and volunteering opportunities.

“I’m grateful to many supportive people, the taxpayers, BC Housing and the availability of affordable places like this. I wake up in the morning and it’s paradise," he said.

"I hope somebody hears my story and it changes their life."

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