Political Activism

Janet Conners

The Krever Report Justice Horace Krever

Amy Graves wants more services for recovering drug addicts in the Annapolis Valley. She says more regulation of prescription drugs may have saved her 21-year-old brother Josh, who died in March.

KENTVILLE — Amy Graves is not your typical 25-year-old. But this time last year her life wasn’t that unusual. She’d been out of high school for a few years and tried her hand at selling insurance and managing a retail outlet. She signed up for a business course at the Nova Scotia Community College, and was making plans for a September wedding to her longtime boyfriend. But her plans never materialized. Life intervened the way it sometimes does — suddenly, shockingly and without warning. Graves’ younger brother, 21-year-old Joshua, was found dead after a house party March 19. An autopsy ruled it accidental, a combination of alcohol and the prescription painkiller Dilaudid. It would change her life forever. "Something just clicked in my head, and instead of crying and shutting down, I had the urge to let it all out, lay it on the table," Graves said in an interview at her Kentville apartment. "I wanted to start making people accountable," she said through tears. "I know it sounds cliche, but... nothing in the world can prepare you for the day when you get a phone call like that. “Josh wasn’t an addict or even a regular drug user, she said. He had a job, a car and an apartment and had just purchased new furniture. He came from a good family. He didn’t have a prescription for opiate painkillers. "There is no rhyme or reason.... No one is invincible.... It only takes once," said Graves, who has discovered her passion for helping others whose lives have been shattered by drug use. "Josh is never going to come back, no matter what I do. But if I can help save somebody else from going through what I had to go through, maybe something positive can come out it." Graves abandoned her education plans, postponed her wedding and devoted herself to tackling prescription opiate abuse. With grief as her driving force, she began networking and researching the issue. The more she dug into it, the bigger the problem appeared. "Once I really started looking into it there was no turning back. It’s like witnessing a crime.... You may be just as guilty if you don’t do something," she said. Graves joined a small group lobbying for more addictions treatment in the Annapolis Valley. She went to street protests, wearing a large sign that read, "I lost my brother, help me save yours.“ She started a Facebook group that now has 914 members. She worked with police, held public rallies, put together a vigil in Kentville, lobbied politicians and helped organize two public meetings that drew hundreds of people. She filed a formal complaint against RCMP for not investigating her brother’s death, hoping to get answers for her grieving parents and two younger siblings. She created the website writes a regular online blog and started a support group. But her biggest achievement, she said, is getting the issue of prescription drug abuse out from under the carpet and on the public’s radar. "At least people are talking about it now." "Amy has been a very significant part of the change going on here in the Annapolis Valley," said Liberal health critic Leo Glavine. "Not only has she helped raise awareness, but she has become a voice for people in need.... She has been very persistent... and we’re seeing some of the results.

Kings West MLA Leo Glavine speaks with Annapolis Valley Fighting Addictions member Amy Graves of Kentville at Province House in Halifax in April 2011.