Liberals push NDP to act, with fentanyl-fuelled crime on rise

Calgary police say addicts resorting to more serious offences to feed habit

Liberal Leader David Swann says grim statistics from Calgary police on fentanyl-related overdoses and crimes show the need for greater action from the NDP government on the deadly drug.

In question period Wednesday, Swann said Calgary police responded to 223 fentanyl-related overdose calls in 2016, the first year the service began tracking those numbers. And according to a briefing note from the Calgary Police Service released by Swann, police also laid 111 fentanyl-related charges in the first 10 months of 2016, compared to 108 charges over all of 2015 and 11 in 2014.

The Calgary-Mountain View MLA — who this week was joined by other opposition parties in reiterating his call for the province to declare a public health emergency — said fentanyl and other opioids are affecting police resources.

“These numbers have risen dramatically,” Swann said in the legislature. “There has also been a corresponding spike in property crime driven by addiction ... if the government has all the resources it needs, why do these numbers keep going up?”

The statistics provided by police to Swann also show a major increase in drug charges related to methamphetamines, with 454 charges laid in the first 10 months of 2016, compared to 373 a year earlier. Those numbers have increased seven-fold since 2010.

The briefing note says the increase in drug charges is related to an increase in crime.

“It is estimated that the vast majority of our prolific offenders have addiction issues (not just opioids) and are committing crimes to support their habits,” says the note.

“These individuals typically focus on property crimes as they are deemed less risky than person-related crimes. That said, there has been a recent shift where many of these offenders are engaging in higher risk crimes, including robbing banks ... offenders have declared their addictions as the primary driver for their crimes.”

Property crimes went up sharply in 2015 — with break and enters going from 5,567 to 8,231 and vehicle crimes going from 11,047 to 18,231 — though they receded somewhat in 2016. For last year, the numbers sat at 8,139 and 15,568.

On overdoses, the police document notes that officers do not attend every overdose, meaning the numbers for the city are much higher.

Nevertheless, police reported that in the 223 fentanyl overdose calls, the victims ranged in age from 18 to 60, while 76 per cent were male. The note says that 13 incidents involved multiple victims and 12 cases involved individuals with a history of overdoses.

In 30 per cent of the Calgary cases, the victims were revived before they went to hospital.

There were 343 overdose deaths connected to fentanyl in Alberta in 2016.

That doesn’t count roughly 150 unspecified opiate-related deaths that still have to be characterized by the medical examiner.

The NDP government has rejected a call to declare a public emergency around fentanyl — a drug used as a painkiller for terminally ill cancer patients and 100 times more powerful than heroin — insisting it wouldn’t provide the province with any powers it doesn’t have already. Among actions the government has taken are the widespread provision of the naloxone antidote and support for supervised injection sites.

The province is also expecting federal funding to deal with the opioid crisis.