Panel to examine options in rising opioid crisis
Mother suggests Alberta follow B.C. by freeing up more health resources
As Alberta awaits what some expect will be a grim new high once the tally of fentanyl and other opioid-related overdose deaths for 2016 is completed, a panel hosted by MacEwan University on Monday will take a closer look at the crisis.
The worsening fentanyl crisis in Canada has hit the western part of the country the hardest. The British Columbia Coroners Service recorded 917 illicit drug overdose deaths in 2016 — a nearly 80-percent increase from 2015. The situation was so critical that the B.C. government declared a public health emergency in April.
One of the members of the MacEwan panel, Petra Schulz, would like to see the Alberta government follow B.C.’s example in declaring an emergency in order to free up more health resources to deal with the crisis.
“We don’t have that ability in Alberta. We know it’s bad. We don’t know how bad,” Schulz said.
A fentanyl overdose took the life of Schulz’s son, Danny Schulz, in 2014. He was just 25 years old, and had been getting his life back on track after struggling with drug addictions, including to oxycodone. When Oxyneo hit the market — a more tamper-resistant version of the drug — fentanyl use began to rise, sometimes unbeknownst to the people using it. Schulz and her husband previously told Postmedia they don’t believe Danny knew he was taking fentanyl.
Danny was one of 117 Albertans to die of a fentanyl overdose in 2014. In 2015, 257 people died, and in 2016 there were 193 deaths on record by September. Alberta Health has yet to release a 2016 total, which Schultz said is in part because of delays in getting back toxicology tests.
Schulz, who also teaches at MacEwan’s Faculty of Health and Community Studies and is a founding member of Moms Stop The Harm, wants to keep the conversation about fentanyl and drug overdoses going.
“We have hundreds of people dying, but it seems like they’re forgotten,” Schulz said.
Schulz will be joined on the panel by health experts who work for universities, Alberta Health Services or are service providers. Jordan Westfall, the president of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs, is travelling to Edmonton to participate.
Schulz, who regularly speaks to nursing students in the city, said the panel is an opportunity to open the discussion to the wider community, and will include information about harm reduction and improving access to information and treatment for addiction. Schulz hopes it will help with dispelling harmful myths that create barriers to treatment.
“Due to the stigma, people do not seek out the help they need,” she said.
The panel will start at 3:30 p.m. on Monday in the Kule Theatre in Robbins Health Learning Centre. Admission is free, but attendees are being asked to RSVP at FHCSconferences@macewan.ca. Schulz said the group plans to make a video of the discussion available on YouTube in the future.