Inverness packs fire hall to address growing drug crisis
The Inverness Volunteer Fire Department Hall was full of concerned citizens who wanted to discuss how to manage the growing drug problem in the community.
January 21, 2026
-by Beverley Phillips
An estimated 300 people filled the Inverness Volunteer Fire Department hall last Wednesday night to discuss how to tackle the growing drug problem in the community.
Dwayne Beaton and Blaine Cathcart organized and chaired the meeting. Both have personal experience with addictions. Beaton is 10 years sober, and Cathcart has been in recovery for eight years.
Cathcart read a story about a man he called Bill that encapsulated why this meeting was necessary. Bill had a drug problem and became suicidal. After a few days in the hospital, Bill was deemed no longer at risk, but had nowhere to go. He left the hospital and was soon back to how he started, and a desperate family took him to another province for care. “Where is humanity in all of this?” Cathcart read. “One decision on this side of healthcare, or lack thereof, can be the deciding factor on who is living and dying outside. People are dying from this disinterest. My friend hasn't slept since he came out of his self-induced coma. He's been dismissed and rejected from a barely beating system. He is loved dearly and is fortunate that he has a family that can drop their own lives and whisk him halfway across this country in a desperate effort to help him.”
