Families reveal the human toll of drug overdoses
As people gathered at City Hall on Friday for International Overdose Awareness Day, the province released new numbers that show 160 people died from fentanyl-related deaths in Alberta, between April and June.
The number of fentanyl-related deaths in the province now totals 330 as of June 30. This is up from the same period last year, when 247 people died.
However, there was a slight drop in deaths between January and March, when 170 people died, versus between April and June, when 160 people died.
Calgary’s second annual Overdose Awareness Day, held by Change the Face of Addiction, saw about 200 people attend, holding signs of support and photos of loved ones who were lost to drug overdose.
The group’s co-founder, Jessica Holtsbaum, said the non-profit works to educate people about the realities of addiction, hear the stories of those affected and learn about solutions.
“We support harm reduction, access to evidence-based treatment and decriminalization of all drugs for personal consumption,” Holtsbaum said.
“We believe in ending the stigma, and we believe if we collectively change our perception of addiction, and we see the person first, we will remove the mask of shame that so often prevents people from getting the help that they need and the help they deserve.”
Provincial Health Minister Sarah Hoffman was in attendance Friday, and said she shares the grief of the families and friends gathered at City Hall.
“It’s of course heartbreaking,” Hoffman said.
“Some people say, ‘ Well the numbers haven’t gone up, that’s good news,’ but obviously, for one of those families that are affected by substance use, and for all of those people here and the broader community, we’re not talking about numbers, we’re talking about people.”
According to provincial data, two individuals on average die every day in Alberta, as a result of an apparent accidental opioid overdose. Since 2016, the province has recorded 1,456 opioid deaths, of which 608 occurred in Calgary.
Calgary continues to have the highest number of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the province. Between April and June, 83 people died from a fentanyl overdose, bringing the total number of deaths in Calgary this year to 167.
Since 2016, 582 Calgarians have died from fentanyl-related overdose, nearly half of the provincial total of 1,247.
Provincial Liberal Leader David Khan and Liberal MLA David Swann also renewed their call for decriminalization of drugs on Friday.
“This will reduce stigma and better deploy resources now being used to punish the sick. The Alberta Liberal caucus is appealing to all three levels of government to support this approach as part of an integrated national strategy,” Swann said in a joint release with Khan.
Khan added that decriminalizations has worked in other jurisdictions, such as Portugal, where deaths from drug overdoses are three per one million people, well below the European Union average of 17.3 per one million.
Hoffman said the province respects it is federal jurisdiction to make that kind of decision.
“We’re really focused on making sure that we have more opportunities for harm reduction for supervised consumption services and we can’t let anyone move us backwards on that,” Hoffman said.
“These save lives, and we know that even here in Calgary alone, almost 500 lives have been saved with supervised consumption services just this year.”
Hoffman also said the province is reviewing the statement of claim in a class-action lawsuit B.C. is filing against drug manufacturers and stores.
“I think we have some work to do in making a decision on whether or not we will join the action,” Hoffman said.
“But I definitely heard from at least one of the speakers here today that they recommend that, and we’ll be continuing to go through it with our legal counsel and considering our options as we move forward.”